Postgraduate institutions to get regular gov’t monitoring
The Ministry of Education will perform regular evaluations of postgraduate institutions from 2015 as part of the government’s push to restructure and reduce the country’s graduate education system.Institutions with poor performances will be forced to reduce student bodies, restructure course programs and reform their policies.
Until now, the education authority only performed such evaluations on undergraduate institutions nationwide. This will be the first time postgraduate schools are subject to such evaluations.
The ministry said in a statement that it was not able to effectively monitor the management and performance of those schools without regular evaluations, which only affected four-year universities and vocational colleges.
The ministry will also raise the bar for any new postgraduate institute to be established. In the past, a prospective institute was required to have at least 4 billion won ($3.8 million) in capital. That amount will be raised to 10 billion won.
“The ministry will look at whether institutions have the capacity to foster talents,” the ministry said in a statement.
“We will also conduct a regular audit or assessment and then issue correction orders based on the assessments. If schools don’t follow the orders, we will force them to reduce student quotas or stop recruiting new applicants,” the ministry added.
The ministry held a public hearing session last week on how to measure competitiveness of schools that only offer master’s and doctoral degrees. A draft program indicates the schools will be assessed on a five-tier ranking system.
The ministry will announce confirmed rules and details about the evaluations by the end of this month.
Analysts say the institutions themselves are dreaded of the system because the results could threaten their government subsidies.
Earlier this year, the Ministry of Education identified 35 underperforming private universities, a move that cuts off all public financial support the schools can receive in 2014.
The listed colleges will also be restricted from participating in any government-led research projects.
On top of that, the education authority withdrew government support for student loans at 14 schools. Students at 11 schools, including Seonam University and Hanlyo University in South Jeolla, will be limited to receiving loans covering only 30 percent of their tuition fees.
This so-called naming-and-shaming system was initiated in 2011 under the Lee Myung-bak administration as part of efforts to shut down less competitive schools and lower the glut of graduates competing for too few jobs.
But it also was meant to reduce the number of schools competing overly hard for students, whose numbers are about to fall because of declining birth rates.
Then-Education Minister Lee Ju-ho warned that enrollment at colleges would plummet by 40 percent over the next 12 years. By 2016, there would already be more university places available than high school graduates, he noted, and many institutions would be forced to close or merge.
Under the college restructuring drive, nine public universities nationwide have absorbed 10 smaller schools.
BY SUNG SI-YOON [ejpark@joongang.co.kr]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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