Kim Backs Reforms In College Selection

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Kim Backs Reforms In College Selection

Starting in 2005, the nation's College Scholastic Aptitude Test will be divided into two categories and conducted twice a year.

Education Minister Han Wan-sang said that under the new plan, approved in principle by President Kim Dae-jung on Friday, current ninth-graders will be tested on core subjects - Korean language, English and math - in the first test. Students can select from several optional subjects in the second test.

The new blueprint envisions giving wider autonomy to colleges and universities. It will allow them to admit students when they choose, and schools will also be able to select their own mix of admission criteria, such as CSAT scores and high school performance.

President Kim was impressed with the outline. "The plan is epochal, and we should make sure that it is diligently carried out. I put my full presidential support behind it," he said.

Sources said related ministries have agreed to the plan, including the Finance Ministry, which must fund it.

Currently, the CSAT is given only once a year. It tests students in eight subjects: Korean language, English, mathematics and sciences. Students can opt to take an additional foreign language test for extra credit.

Under the new system for academic year 2005, the College Scholastic Aptitude Test I will be similar to the U.S. SAT I, which tests verbal and mathematics skills and serves as a general qualifying exam. The College Scholastic Aptitude Test II will be comparable to the U.S.SAT II which has five sections grouping 15 subjects such as history, science and foreign languages. Ministry officials said that the specific details of the examination, especially of the optional subjects, will be hammered out in December.

Education experts lauded the plan, saying it will allow students to focus on test elements important to their college plans and will reduce the "cram pressure" of preparing for a more broadly based test. There are frequent complaints about pressure to attend private "cram schools" to prepare for the current test.

The blueprint still bans admissions tests drawn up by individual schools and admissions based on financial contributions by alumni or benefactors.

The new plan calls for an increase of 20 percent annually in tuition fees at state-run colleges and universities. Current tuition would rise by over 70 percent by 2004; students who now pay 2.5 million won per year would pay nearly 4.3 million won in 2004.

The plan envisions reducing the class size at primary and secondary schools to 35 by 2003. In order to meet the goal, the ministry said it will recruit over 23,000 new teachers - 11,000 next year and 12,600 in 2003.

Finally, the ministry proposed that foreign graduate schools be allowed to establish campuses in Korea beginning next September in competition with graduate schools of Korean universities.



by Kang Hong-jun

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