Mid- and Low-ranking universities need major restructuring to survive

The Education, Science and Technology Ministry’s recent decision to categorize universities into five grades and reduce enrollment of all universities except for those in the top grade reflects Korea’s desperate need for school restructuring. While low ranking universities struggle to meet their enrollment quota, Korea’s university age population is expected to go below the overall university enrollment in five years. In 2018, the total enrollment of universities including two-year colleges will reach 55,000, but the number of high school graduates will remain only at 54,000. In 2023, the number of high school graduates will further decrease to 40,000.

Currently, the Education Ministry categorizes universities into three grades and ousts those who ranked the lowest for the three consecutive years. Since the introduction of this system in 2008, only 6 out of 340 universities have been expelled. Unfortunately, school restructuring will never be achieved this way. Underperforming universities will continue to survive on governmental supports, such as subsidies for “half tuition.”

Reducing student enrollment for all universities except for the first grade ones will deal a serious blow to applicable universities. Unlike U.S. private universities where contributions take up a great portion of finance, Korean universities are highly dependent on student tuitions, over 80 percent. Because of this, cutting enrollment directly leads to reduced revenue, threatening even the very existence of schools. Furthermore, some universities with grade 4 or 5 will face restrictions in getting state scholarships and be eliminated from the list subject to the student loan program run by the government. It will be just a matter of time for such universities to be kicked out.

Some U.S. private universities struggling to meet the student enrollment quota take active measures, such as merging with other universities, reducing the number of faculty, sharing the faculty with neighboring universities and abolishing unpopular majors. Because universities cannot just expect governmental supports in the U.S. unlike in Korea, they should pursue every avenue to survive. For the educational foundations that choose to close doors, a way to partially recover assets needs to be offered. Despite the urgency of university restructuring, bills on the revision of private school act and the promotion and support of private school reform plan have been pending in the National Assembly for several years.

Although there is an urgent need for university restructuring, it is not desirable for the Education Ministry to control the fate of universities. As the government pushes for restructuring, universities’ autonomy will weaken. Universities should push forward with major restructuring comparable to the level of corporate restructuring rather than just calling for more autonomy. In Korea, universities still offer new majors based on nothing and professors lobby the school management to take only a couple of lecture a week at a convenient time. Private universities, if needed, should volunteer for merger and consolidation.