President Lee calls for forward-looking education policy

By Kang Shin-who

The government announced Friday an ambitious plan to nurture 20 vocational colleges into world-class schools and help at least three universities join the ranks of the global top 30.

In a report to President Lee Myung-bak on its policy plans for next year, the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology said it will expand policy benefits and allow greater autonomy for colleges to bolster their international competitiveness.

“We will launch a new program to choose the top 20 vocational colleges and nurture them into world-class colleges,” Education Minister Lee Ju-ho told reporters after the briefing session at Cheong Wa Dae.

Those selected schools will be given more leeway in hiring professors and recruiting students.

Minister Lee said that the government will help at least three universities make the list of the global top 30 schools, and raise the rankings of 10 universities to the global top 200 by 2015.

He also pledged greater policy assistance for research-focused universities to better compete with world famous institutes. “We will take steps to prompt universities to introduce more diverse and more competitive programs of post-graduate schools as many other countries do,” he added.


English education


The ministry said it will continue to strengthen English education at public schools next year to help reduce private tutoring costs. Under the plan, English classes for fifth and sixth graders will increase by one hour to three hours a week. It will also hire 2,000 more English-only speaking Korean teachers to total 6,300 in 2011.

“We are making every effort to provide students with tailored English education programs, such as regular after-school classes,” he said.

Asked to evaluate the government’s increased investment in English education in recent years, the minister said, “It takes time if we want to see results from our investment. Please be patient for a specific outcome in the field.”

Since its inception about three years ago, the administration has stressed the importance of English education to reduce private education costs and stop a growing number of children from going overseas to study.

Minister Lee was very optimistic on the positive impact the government’s education policy on reducing private tutoring costs. “Next February, we will announce statistics on private education costs, and I can say they have already started falling,” he said.


School reforms


During the briefing, President Lee instructed the minister to prepare long-term, forward-looking policies, pointing out that the number of college freshmen will be cut by half in 10 years amid a falling birthrate.
The President said education lags behind the country’s economic growth and needs to be reformed. “Education policies without thinking about what will happen in 10 years are doomed to fail. Korea’s future relies on education. Therefore all education polices should be long-term based,” he said.

President Lee called on the ministry to embrace changes and challenges. “In these fast-changing times, the education ministry should be a new one that fits with the new era,” Lee said. “At the same time, parents and schools need to change as well.”

The number of high school graduates is expected to fall to around 400,000 in 2020 from 670,000 this year because of the falling birthrate, according to the ministry.