[WHY] Why do so many Koreans go to university — and is that changing?

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[WHY] Why do so many Koreans go to university — and is that changing?

Published: 14 Sep. 2024, 10:00

LEE TAE-HEE
lee.taehee2@joongang.co.kr

A student runs into the high school he will be taking the College Scholastic Ability Test, or suneung, in November last year. [YONHAP]

As Korean high school seniors gather with their relatives over the upcoming Chuseok holiday, the main question on everyone's lips will be which university students plan on attending, rather than questioning if they will even go or not.

Not going to university isn't seen as an option for many Koreans, with the country having the highest percentage of youth with tertiary education among OECD countries.

A total of 69.7 percent of Korea's population between 25 and 34 had tertiary education as of 2023, according to the OECD. The OECD average was 47.4 percent.

"For me, it was an obvious decision to go to university just because it's something everyone does and one of the basic requirements to even apply for a job," said Shin Hyun-ji, a 28-year-old who graduated with a bachelor's degree. "I've never seen anyone say it's OK to not go to university at all, and even if someone did tell me that, I would still have gone because it seems too much of a gamble."

Like Shin, many Koreans agree that higher education is necessary.

Based on a survey of 1,000 people conducted by market tracker Hankook Research in 2023, 68 percent of respondents said it was necessary to go to university.

The trend has been continuous, with 65 percent of respondents saying university is necessary in the same survey conducted in 2021 and 2022.

Students and families take photos at Seoul National University's matriculation ceremony in February. [YONHAP]

How did Korea's university degree frenzy start?

The phenomenon goes back to the 1950s when education was one of the factors that could help people move up the social ladder.

Terms such as wugoltap, referring to universities as buildings built by tuition farmers who paid by selling their cows — wu in hanja, the Chinese characters that are used in Korean — also emerged in the '60s and '70s as many families saved every penny to send their children to university.

"Korean society in the 1950s was basically in ruins after the colonial period and war, with people either farmers who could barely feed their families or small business owners operating mom-and-pop stores," said Yee Jae-yeol, a Seoul National University professor teaching social sciences and the author of “Would You Like To Live In Korea If You Were Born Again?”

"Civil servants, teachers and bankers were the very few modern jobs available at the time, and education was what allowed people to get those jobs and climb the social ladder."

The three jobs did not specifically require a university education back in the 1950s, as they were popular jobs for high school graduates. Even today, teaching is still the only occupation that requires a university degree — a prerequisite to take the teacher certification exam.

Although a university degree is not mandatory to get such jobs, Professor Yee said that many saw university as giving them better chances in the future and "considered it necessary to go to university after graduating high school as the number of universities jumped after Korea's liberation."

Korea had only 29 universities in 1945, with the number rising to 65 in 1955. There were 131 universities in 1965, 190 in 1975 and 236 in 1985.

The Korean government also implemented a series of decentralization policies in 1972, encouraging Seoul-based universities to either move or create new campuses in areas outside of Seoul. Nine Seoul universities opened second campuses following the policy, including Yonsei University opening the Mirae Campus in Wonju, Gangwon, in 1977. Korea University also opened its campus in Sejong, then known as Yeongi county in South Chungcheong, in 1980 and Hanyang University opened its campus in Ansan, Gyeonggi, also in 1980.

The groundbreaking ceremony for Hanyang University's Erica campus in 1980. [HANYANG UNIVERSITY]

With universities establishing new campuses and opening more slots for students to enroll in, many students saw the opportunity and jumped in. Following the change, Korea had 611,000 university students in 1980, a 218 percent increase compared to 192,000 in 1970.

People started to pursue degrees in hopes of higher income and financial success, and like the widespread belief, the salary of those with and without a degree does differ.

According to Statistics Korea, entry-level employees with a high school diploma earned an average annual salary of 31.34 million won ($23,400) in 2022, while those with a bachelor's degree earned an average of 36.6 million won.

However, with the Korean job market overflowing with university degree holders, the difference isn't as significant as in other countries.

In 2022, the salary of Korean youth between 25 and 34 with a bachelor's degree was 17 percent higher than those with a high school diploma, according to the OECD. However, the OECD average was a 31 percent difference.

After decades of people thinking that getting a university degree is the way to climb the social ladder, degrees are still seen as a reflection of one's current and potential status, with people continuing to pursue higher education.

Will Korea continue to have more people attain higher education?

Korea already has a large portion of the student-age population attending university, and although it seems like the figure can grow no more, there may still be room.

Despite the comparatively small income difference between high school graduates and bachelor's degree holders, Korea's long history of freezing undergraduate tuition has made the actual cost of a degree less expensive.

"Students go to university when the profits they can earn with a degree are higher than the cost of getting the degree, and the actual cost of obtaining a degree is decreasing due to universities freezing tuition," said Kim Tae-hoon, a professor teaching economics at Kyung Hee University, and the author of “College Premium.”

"Increased national scholarships are also a factor that lessens the tuition burden and increases enrollment, along with additional government support measures such as financial support for university students to use as rent."

A total of 136 out of 190 four-year universities froze undergraduate tuition for domestic students this year, a choice influenced by the government only offering funding for the Type II National Scholarship to universities that have frozen tuition for domestic undergraduates since 2012. Another five universities actually decreased tuition, with the remaining 26 hiking tuition.

"Considering the consumer price index rose 132.8 percent in the past 15 years [while universities froze tuition], we can say tuition actually fell around 30 percent," said a spokesperson for the Korean Association of Private University Presidents.

Korea's decreasing student population is another factor that may influence future enrollment rates.

The student population is falling faster than the decrease in admissions quotas, which could make it easier for students to get into prestigious universities, to the point where students who didn't intend to attend university could become more willing to pursue higher education.

According to the Ministry of Education, universities — four-year universities and vocational universities combined — had a total admissions quota of 523,102 for the 2023 academic year, down 2.34 percent on year. The admissions quota is already larger than the high school senior population of 431,118 for 2022, which fell at a much faster rate of 7.6 percent on year.

High school seniors take a mock College Scholastic Ability Test, also known as suneung, on Sept. 4 at a high school in Pohang, North Gyeongsang. [NEWS1]

"As the student population declines, there is a higher chance for students to get into high-ranking universities compared to those they would have been accepted to in the past," said Professor Kim. "This could make students, who would have been hesitant to go to university if they were accepted to low-ranking ones, choose to enroll in university."

"There is a high possibility that the enrollment rate of four-year universities will gradually rise, while the enrollment rate of vocational universities will fall, which has actually been a trend between 2019 and 2022."

Although it seems Korea will continue to have a high number of students going to university, there are also people recognizing that a degree does not guarantee financial success.

"There are people who are starting to think that university education, or even graduating from SKY universities [referring to Seoul National University, Korea University and Yonsei University], holds less significance now," said Professor Yee. "More people want to pursue an unconventional way of living, and some parents send their children to alternative schools from middle and high school, with many students wanting to have jobs that aren't traditionally considered the 'ideal' jobs."

Are there no opportunities for high school graduates?

Although it seems like everyone in Korea is pursuing a university degree, students who aim to get a job immediately after graduating from high school also exist.

These students make the choice at an early stage in their life, attending vocational high schools, meister high schools (a high school teaching career skills) or specialized high schools that teach relevant skills needed to find a job right after graduation.

Visitors look around a job fair for high school diploma holders in Suwon, Gyeonggi, on Tuesday. [YONHAP]

According to the Education Ministry, 71,591 students graduated from such high schools in February 2023. Of them, 27.3 percent were employed as of April that year.

Although many job openings in Korea tend to require a bachelor's degree as a minimum requirement to apply, it does not mean there are no opportunities for high school graduates.

Government organizations are among the entities that offer positions for high school graduates.

The Ministry of Economy and Finance's Public Institutions Assessment takes into account the number of high school graduates an organization hires in the evaluation process, as part of an initiative to encourage the employment of high school graduates. Companies with more than eight percent of their employees being high school graduates receive a passing mark.

In 2023, 339 government organizations hired 1,759 high school graduates, according to research institute Leaders Index.

The figure did fall 8.4 percent on year, but the downward trend is seen in overall government organization hiring. The 339 organizations hired 20,207 employees in 2023, a 17.4 percent on-year decrease.

Conglomerates also offer opportunities for high school graduates.

When Samsung companies hire new employees, the job listings will specify whether it's for a level 3, 4 or 5 position, a system which is used to categorize opportunities based on different educational backgrounds.

Level 3 refers to jobs that require at least a bachelor's degree, while level 4 requires at least an associate degree and level 5 requires applicants to have a high school diploma.

Companies such as Samsung Electro-Mechanics, Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance, Samsung Life Insurance and S-1 recruited new employees in January. Companies like Samsung SDI have been opening level 5 positions in the second half of the year, around October or November.

Hyundai Motor also opened applications for production line workers in July, allowing those with a high school diploma or above to apply.

Despite these opportunities, the number of jobs for high school graduates is small, with many roles focused on manufacturing and production.

For high school graduates who feel that what they've learned isn't enough or who struggle to find jobs, they may also choose to follow the trend and pursue higher education.

Of the 71,591 students who graduated from career training high schools this year, 47 percent went on to study at higher education institutions.

Among them, 58.7 percent went to vocational universities and the remaining 41.3 percent enrolled in four-year universities.

"Rather than students going straight to jobs when their skill level isn't sufficient, there are students who choose to go to university, sometimes influenced by the decisions of friends around them," said a spokesperson for the Education Ministry in a press release when the statistics were released.

BY LEE TAE-HEE [lee.taehee2@joongang.co.kr]

korea joongAng daily

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[WHY] Why do so many Koreans go to university — and is that changing?

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