South Korea - The Korea Times

Private education spending surges over 60% despite shrinking student population

Even as Korea’s student population has shrunk because of the country’s low birthrate, spending on after-school tutoring and test preparation academies has risen by more than 60 percent over the past decade. The increase has been driven largely by a surge in private tutoring among elementary school students, as demand shifts to increasingly younger ages. According to data released Sunday by the Korea Statistical Information Service (KOSIS), household spending on private tutoring academies reached 29.19 trillion won ($20.18 billion), marking a 60.1 percent increase from 2014. After declining through 2015, when spending fell to 17.83 trillion won, expenditures on after-school tutoring and test preparation centers began rising again in 2016 and surpassed 20 trillion won in 2019. Spending dipped temporarily to 19.35 trillion won in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, but has increased for four consecutive years since 2021. While the number of students is declining, overall spending on private tutoring has continued to rise, influenced by a range of social and economic factors. KOSIS attribut

Jan 4, 2026By Jung Da-hyun

Private education spending surges over 60% despite shrinking student population

Education minister casts classrooms as answer to AI upheaval, balanced national development

With classrooms emptying in provincial towns and employers warning of widening skills shortages, Education Minister Choi Kyo-jin said at a briefing Monday that Korea’s education system had become a frontline response to the country’s deeper national and regional structural problems. These include demographic decline and the hollowing out of areas beyond the capital. While the ministry identified priorities like fostering democratic citizenship and bolstering regional universities, it made no reference to policies concerning international students. At a briefing marking his first 100 days in office, Choi said Korea as a whole — and its regions in particular — was entering a period of profound change and crisis. “The rapid advancement of artificial intelligence (AI) is reshaping the type of talent society demands, while the crisis of regional depopulation is calling for a fundamentally new role for education policy,” he said. “Even amid these changes, what must not be forgotten is the core of education. Above all, it is essential to provide education that enables students to

Dec 23, 2025By Jung Da-hyun

Education minister casts classrooms as answer to AI upheaval, balanced national development

SNU’s foreign faculty face barriers in Korea’s insider-dominated academia

Even at Seoul National University (SNU) — widely regarded as Korea’s top postsecondary institution — foreign professors say that globalization rarely reaches the faculty ranks, despite the university’s broader push toward internationalization. While international student recruitment is accelerating, efforts to attract, integrate and support foreign faculty lag far behind, with many pointing to entrenched “closed circles” as a major barrier. “The Korean system is very network-driven, and if you are not part of the SNU alumni circle, you tend to be excluded,” said Martin Steinegger, a professor from Germany in the university’s department of biological sciences. For foreign faculty who have never studied or worked in Korea, that barrier can be steep. “You start with no network, and that makes it extremely difficult to even get your footing — because who you know is crucial for research success, grants, collaborations and everything,” he added. Sascha Trippe, a German professor in SNU’s Department of Physics and Astronomy, echoed that the overwhelming majority of SNU

Dec 3, 2025By Jung Da-hyun

SNU’s foreign faculty face barriers in Korea’s insider-dominated academia

Top universities react to AI cheating scandals, yet concrete disciplinary steps remain elusive

As cheating cases involving artificial intelligence (AI) continue to surface at Korea’s elite “SKY” universities — Seoul National, Korea and Yonsei — campuses are rushing to roll out countermeasures. Most responses focus on the individual classes where misconduct occurred, exposing how far universities still are from establishing clear, campus-wide standards for online learning and AI use. Korea University has introduced a series of anti-cheating measures for a general education course where AI-assisted misconduct was detected during last month’s midterm exam. The university voided the course’s midterm exam after the cheating scandal surfaced. For the upcoming final exam, the number of questions will surge from 35 to about 100, each with strict time limits to curb cheating. The university is also considering a system that randomizes question order so every student receives a different set in real time. This measure aims to block large-scale answer sharing online. To further tighten security, the university plans to activate “Trust Lock” software that blocks screen sharin

Nov 21, 2025By Jung Da-hyun

Top universities react to AI cheating scandals, yet concrete disciplinary steps remain elusive

Cheating scandals at top universities prompt rethink of education in digital era

AI era spurs overhaul of universities and their global rankings

As artificial intelligence (AI) reshapes the global higher-education landscape, long-standing university ranking systems are under pressure to move beyond static, output-driven metrics and better account for how institutions innovate and build digital capacity. The 16th University Ranking Forum of Korea (URFK) on Thursday examined how global university rankings must evolve in the AI era — and where Korean universities currently stand. “Evaluations are an opportunity to reaffirm a university’s core mission and future vision,” Ewha Womans University President Lee Hyang-sook said in her opening remarks. Launched in 2014 and held annually since, the URFK brought together around 100 higher education stakeholders and global university ranking experts this year. For universities, rankings now function as more than a competitive tally. They signal an institution’s academic direction, the robustness of its research environment, its social responsibility and its commitment to nurturing future professionals. As universities grapple with AI-driven transformation, a deepening demographic cri

Nov 20, 2025By Jung Da-hyun

AI era spurs overhaul of universities and their global rankings

Does Suneung English exam gauge real-world proficiency?

Forget the SAT. Korea’s College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT), or Suneung, includes an English section so notoriously difficult that some students have likened it to deciphering an ancient script. Far from being a routine exam, it features dense passages and difficult vocabulary that even fluent English speakers say they are left second-guessing themselves — turning a test intended to measure proficiency into something closer to a national exercise in linguistic frustration. But despite recurring criticism that the exam’s complexity goes far beyond what high school students can reasonably handle, experts argue that the test is designed not to measure simple language proficiency but to gauge students’ analytical and learning potential once they enter university. Still, they warn that the extreme competitiveness surrounding the exam may be producing negative side effects, including excessive stress and an unhealthy test-driven learning culture. “In general, I find the difficulty level of the questions ridiculous — I’d wager that a high percentage of native speakers would str

Nov 14, 2025By Jung Da-hyun

Does Suneung English exam gauge real-world proficiency?

Think your English is good? Try solving Korea’s 'insane' college entrance test!

The English section of Korea’s College Scholastic Aptitude Test (CSAT) is infamous for its difficulty — so much so that many native English speakers, including well-educated adults, have described it as “insane” after reviewing some of the passages and questions faced by students. This year’s CSAT, conducted Thursday, was determined to be of moderate difficulty. Here are questions from the actual 2026 CSAT English test. Test your English skills with them — and try to imagine what it’s like to be a Korean high school student preparing for this exam. No cheating! (You can download the complete set of questions and answers here.) Test takers were given 45 questions to be answered in 70 minutes. Q24. Choose the best title for the following passage. Q32. Choose the phrase that best completes the sentence. Q34. Choose the phrase that best completes the sentence. Q37. Choose the most appropriate order of the sentences that would follow the given passage. Q39. Choose the most appropriate place for the given sentence in the flow of the passage.

Nov 13, 2025By Jung Da-hyun

Think your English is good? Try solving Korea’s 'insane' college entrance test!

Top universities push online learning, raising questions about oversight

Years after the coronavirus pandemic ended, a growing number of universities in Korea are bringing back online lectures, prompting critics to warn that the convenience of remote learning may come at the expense of educational quality. Compounding the problem, weak academic oversight in online courses, along with fierce competition for grades in a challenging job market, has sparked a series of mass cheating scandals at universities across the country. According to data from the Ministry of Education’s Higher Education in Korea website, Thursday, six major universities in Seoul — Seoul National University, Yonsei University, Korea University, Sogang University, Sungkyunkwan University and Hanyang University — offered a total of 534 online courses in the second semester of 2024. Yonsei University had the most with 321, followed by Sungkyunkwan University with 56, Seoul National University with 51, Korea and Hanyang universities with 44 each and Sogang University with 18. Online classes expanded rapidly in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, but even after in-person teaching resumed in

Nov 13, 2025By Jung Da-hyun

Top universities push online learning, raising questions about oversight

Cheating scandals at top universities prompt rethink of education in digital era

A string of artificial intelligence (AI)-related cheating scandals at Korea’s prestigious “SKY” universities — Seoul National University, Yonsei University and Korea University — has sparked renewed scrutiny of higher education in the digital era. As AI tools become a routine part of student life, the incidents are prompting urgent questions about whether universities must rethink how they teach and assess students. About 190 students at Yonsei University were caught cheating on a midterm exam for a course on natural language processing and ChatGPT, reigniting concerns over academic integrity in the age of cutting edge digital technologies, including AI. The professor overseeing the course has vowed to take strict action against students caught cheating. Those who come forward voluntarily will receive a zero on the midterm but avoid further penalties, while students who do not turn themselves in could face disciplinary measures, including short-term suspension, in line with university regulations, the professor said. With about 600 students enrolled, the course was conducted en

Nov 12, 2025By Jung Da-hyun

Cheating scandals at top universities prompt rethink of education in digital era

AnalysisKorean universities absent from QS Asia top 10; Hong Kong schools rise on state backing

Despite the growing global interest in Korean education, no Korean universities made it into Asia’s top 10 in the latest QS rankings — a stark reminder that establishing a presence in the international academic arena remains one of the country’s greatest challenges. Analysts say Korean universities must increase the number of quality faculty members and provide programs tailored for international students, while the government needs to cut financial regulations that prevent schools from strengthening their global competitiveness. According to the QS World University Rankings: Asia 2026 released on Nov. 4, the top 10 spots were dominated by institutions from Hong Kong, China and Singapore, with five from Hong Kong, three from mainland China and two from Singapore. The University of Hong Kong claimed the top spot. Meanwhile, Korean universities saw their overall standings fall, with none placing in the top 10 for the first time in four years. Yonsei University, which ranked ninth last year as the only Korean institution in the top 10, dropped to 11th place this year. Korea University

Nov 11, 2025By Jung Da-hyun

Education