By Kim Rahn
Staff Reporter
A key educational advisor to President-elect Lee Myung-bak proposed that the country set up a special presidential committee to help strengthen cooperation between colleges and businesses for stronger global competitiveness.
Sogang University President Sohn Byung-doo, who will chair the Korean Council for University Education starting April, said the council will suggest establishing a tripartite presidential committee comprising officials from government, businesses and colleges. Sohn will suggest the plan to the President-elect Friday.
Sohn's remark came a day after the transition team announced that colleges will have discretion in selecting students and the education authority's functions in admission policy will be transferred to the council.
``In the past, former presidents encouraged exports to develop the country. Now the president needs to focus on making the country education-oriented,'' Sohn said in an interview.
``A presidential committee comprised of the government, corporate and universities should be set up to strengthen the competitiveness of the nation's education. The United States and Japan have education committees which directly belong to the president,'' he said.
Sohn said that to strengthen competitiveness, universities should have sufficient financial support. He said stronger ties between businesses and academia are essential for schools to raise enough funds and for companies to hire skilled workers.
``Universities need to readjust their curricula to cultivate talented people that companies want, while companies need to provide more support to universities,'' he said.
The would-be chairman also said the council will make detailed suggestions for the liberalization of the college admission system to the transition team.
Sohn, former vice chairman of the Federation of Korean Industries, used to spearhead the protest against the Roh Moo-hyun government's education policy that focused on regulations and egalitarianism. It is expected that the council, under Sohn's chairmanship, will actively cooperate with the transition team, which plans to give universities autonomy in student recruitment. He was also appointed as an advisor for President-elect Lee Thursday.
``Some worry about the council's ability to handle the admission policy. We will devise measures for smooth progress of admission by forming a working-level organization comprised of each university's officials in charge of admission,'' he said.
Regarding worries that the liberalization will lead to each university's own admission test and thus result in growing private tutoring and deterioration of public education, Sohn said that public education should be normalized through improving public education itself, not through regulating college admission systems.