Korea Moves to Open Higher Education Market
By Chung Ah-young
Staff Reporter
University student representatives hold a rally to protest an education market opening near the government complex in central Seoul, Monday. South Korea is expected to include the partial opening of its education market for a free trade agreement (FTA) with the United States. / Korea Times
South Korea faces a bumpy road in upcoming talks with the United States for the opening of the education market amid an on-going debate over how to protect public education and enhance educational competitiveness.
Partial opening of the education market is expected to be included in the proposed Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement (FTA).
The U.S. will likely call for the Korean government to open its education market wider including graduate schools, pre-schools and kindergartens.
Yet, the government has made it clear the market for compulsory public education _ elementary, middle and high schools _ will not be included in FTA negotiations.
South Korea already said it would not fully open its education market, despite World Trade Organization (WTO) negotiations in 2003.
However, it has hinted it would open its colleges to foreign competition.
In 2005, the government said it would not open cyber universities, or the so-called distance education market.
So far the country has stood firm in its position of only allowing only nonprofit foreign educational institutes to operate in Korea, restricting the profit-seeking educational operations of private branch schools.
In line with the WTO negotiations, the government is expected to take a similar position concerning education market opening in the FTA talks.
If Korea signs an FTA with the U.S., many universities, especially colleges in provincial cities, may face bankruptcy if the market is opened as they continue to suffer from falling numbers of new entrants.
The Korean Educational Development Institute (KEDI) said foreign education institutions still find it difficult to enter the Korean market due to restrictions on their operations, although there are few limits on life-long educational institutions.
The KEDI said the issue of liberalization of the educational market to foreign institutions had become polarized between economy-oriented supporters and education-oriented opponents.
However, foreign educational institutions will be allowed to operate in Free Economic Zones (FEZ).
The FEZs include Inchon, Pusan, Chinhae, Kwangyang and Sunchon, along with the international visa-free city of Cheju.
Foreign schools in the FEZs will allow up to 30 percent of Koreans to fill total student quotas for the first five years after opening.
The FEZs are trying to attract high-quality educational institutions and give them diverse incentives including tax breaks, financial support and subsidies.
The Ministry of Education and Human Resources Development favors the establishment of foreign institutions in the FEZs. But does not want them to seek profits.
The scope of market liberalization is also a thorny issue.
Primary and secondary education sectors have good reason to be protected in pursuit of public good.
However, higher educational sectors are expected to be discussed in negotiations with the U.S.
As for opening the higher educational market, it will be a controversial issue as profit-seeking foreign educational institutes will naturally want to send profits home.
The ministry has emphasized it will not allow the opening of the primary and secondary educational market to secure public good. But it is considering opening the market for university and graduate schools in a move to enhance competitiveness.
“Korean universities lag behind compared to foreign universities in terms of education quality with the mounting deficits on overseas studies,” Lee Gye-young, a ministry official, said.
The ministry is expecting that further opening of higher and adult education will bring high-quality foreign educational institutions closer to Korean students without the necessity for them to go abroad every year, Lee said.
However, the Korean Teachers and Educational Workers’ Union (KTU) has raised concerns over possible side effects of foreign educational institutions that may attract only a small number of students whose parents are wealthy enough to afford high tuitions.
The KTU claimed market opening will bring about the collapse of public education as it might be inevitable for both foreign and local educational institutions to pursue profits, if the education market is liberalized.
It argues that liberalization will accelerate the dependency of the nation’s education on foreign educational institutes by providing foreign curriculums to Korean students.