[Editorial] Deregulating the ivory tower

The keywords in the higher education reform outline the Ministry of Education unveiled last week are deregulation and autonomy. The government-led review on basic capabilities of colleges and universities will be replaced by evaluations by the Korea Advancing Schools Foundation, the Korea Council for University Education, and the Korean Council for University College Education. Opening or adjusting enrollment quota will be left up to the institutions. When a private institution has to close, it can be converted to a welfare or public facility and can be merged or acquired in the same process as corporate entity.

The education ministry so far had the control over admission, staffing, and degree organization through its funding power. Any institutions falling below the government assessment was stigmatized as being unqualified. Any opening of a new department or reorganization had to meet strict government guidelines. Public and national universities had to seek prior approval when they adjusted their enrollment quota.

Korea ranked 46th out of 63 countries in World University Rankings in this year’s scale of Switzerland-based International Institute for Management Development due to excessive government meddling and sluggish investment.

The conservative Yoon Suk-yeol administration has allowed universities access to some of the budget for subsidy for elementary and secondary education, which is earmarked at 3 trillion won ($2.4 billion) in 2022. The government has followed up with deregulatory action this time.

But the measures may not be enough. According to a Statistics Korea forecast, the population of 18-year-olds in 2042 would stop at 234,567. Given the current university enrollment ratio of 71.5 percent, freshmen would number just a third of the current count of 474,996. In other words, two thirds of colleges and universities would have to shut down 20 years later.

The outline could help our ailing universities find an exit. Various policies and bills to restructure troubled secondary education institutions have all failed over the past decade. A relief bill for private universities motioned in September requires bipartisan attention and review.

The idea of the education ministry handing over the administrative and jurisdiction authority to local governments requires further study as it can only increase meddling by municipal and provincial heads. The autonomy for elementary and secondary education has only worsened the education divide under politically-motivated superintendents.

The reform outline has not mentioned tuition. University tuition has stayed frozen since 2009. The consumer price index has jumped from 83.9 in 2009 to 102.5 in 2021. Adjusting college tuition for inflation is inevitable to help ease the deepening financial woes of universities. The finalized outline must also address the issue.