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 Elementary Education

Elementary education for children is free and compulsory in Korea and aims to provide a general education. As of 2002, there are 5,384 elementary schools and 603 branch schools in Korea, with 4,138,366 pupils studying in 118,502 classrooms that are staffed by 147,497 teachers.

Korean and Japanese elementary schools engaging in classroom exchange programs.  The government began imposing education taxes in 1982 to improve both the educational environment and raise teachers' salaries. It also launched school facility improvement projects, which led to the reduction in 2002 of the average class size to 34.9 students per classroom. The government has also expanded foreign language instruction, enabling third graders and above to study English for two hours weekly as part of formal school education programs.

The Seventh Education Curriculum requires elementary school students to complete 25-32 hours of study per week. The 10 mandatory subjects are Korean language, etiquette/manners, social studies, arithmetic, natural science, practical skills, physical education, music, fine arts and foreign language.

Middle School

Upon completion of elementary school, children between the ages of 12-14 advance to middle school (7th-9th grades). The purpose of middle school is to conduct standard secondary education on the basis of elementary education. As of 2002, there are 2,809 middle schools across Korea with a total enrollment of 1,841,030.

In 1985, the government began to expand government-paid compulsory education from primary to middle schools, first in the nation's agricultural and fishery communities and gradually expanding it nationwide. The goal, of course, was to provide them with an equal opportunity to receive basic education and thus improve their personal welfare in the future. The system now covers all students across the nation who entered middle school in the spring of 2002.

The curriculum for middle school consists of ten required courses - Korean language, ethics, social studies, mathematics, natural science, practical skills (home economics), physical education, music, fine arts, and English. They study 34 hours a week, including four hours of elective subjects and two hours of extra curricula activities.

High School

 Practical training at a science high school.

 High school education aims to provide students with advanced general studies building on their middle school education. Middle school graduates or those with equivalent academic background may enter high school. Students study for three years at their own expenses, many preparing to pursue college education.

There are three different types of high schools, "general high schools," "vocational schools," and "special skills schools."

Since the Education Act was revised in 1995, there are various new ways of selecting students for admission, including the so-called "school activities records" where the three-year middle school performance is recorded. As of 2002, most high schools in the nation select students based on "school activities records," although there are still some schools that also entrance exams.

For example, six cities and three provinces (Seoul, Busan, Daegu, Incheon, Gwangju, Daejeon, Chungcheongbuk-do, Gyeongsangnam-do, and Jeju-do) review only the school records of middle school graduates in high school admissions evaluation. Other regions, including Gyeonggi-do and Jeollabuk-do, evaluate both school records and high school entrance examination scores, while, in Ulsan City, the selection process depends on the examination scores alone.

As soon as individual school admission standards are introduced, small special skills schools began to appear offering courses in such areas as music, the arts as well as math and science. For those students returning home from abroad, international schools are also available. And after 1998, self-supporting "private high schools" were given the right to select students as well as to set tuition payments.

The first-year curriculum at high school centers on 10 mandatory subjects, elective courses and special activity programs. Thus 11th and 12th graders are allowed to sign up for various elective courses that fit their individual future plans.

Higher Education

There are seven categories of institutions of higher learning: 1) colleges and universities; 2) industrial universities; 3) universities of education; 4) junior colleges; 5) broadcast and correspondence universities; 6) technical colleges; and 7) other institutions.

About 80 percent of all Korean institutions of higher learning are private. In accordance with the Higher Education Act and the relevant presidential and ministerial decrees, all institutions of higher learning, whether public or private, come under the supervision of the Ministry of Education and Human Resources Development. The ministry has control over such matters as student quotas, qualifications of teaching staff, curricula and degree requirements.  

University students holding a discussion at a seminar.

 Higher education aims at teaching basic academic theories and their various applications needed for the progress and enlightenment of our society and the global community, and for training the nation's future leaders.

The unit for measuring the completion of each course is a credit. Each university sets, on the basis of school regulations, the requirements for the completion of each credit, the minimum number of credits necessary for graduation, the standard credits and maximum credits required each semester, the rules for special credits, and credits required for the completion of preparatory (cf. "pre-med") courses.

The curricula are composed of general and professional courses, each of which is again divided into required and elective courses. There were only 19 institutions of higher education on entire Korea at the time of liberation in 1945. In 2002, the number of such institutions in South Korea has increased to 1,303 with a total of 3,577,447 students and 59,750 faculty members.

Junior College

Junior colleges are two or three-year post-secondary programs, and they are a direct outgrowth of the increasing demand for technical manpower due to rapid industrialization. They are the product of a merger between two-year junior colleges and two- or three-year professional high schools. Since the new system was introduced in 1979, the number of junior colleges has grown to 159 as of 2002 with an enrollment of 963,129. They now play a major role as short-term higher education institutions. The purpose of junior college education is to produce mid-level technical manpower that can contribute to national development through teaching and researching technical knowledge in every field of society.

The specialized courses of junior colleges are grouped into professional majors such as humanities and social studies, natural sciences, engineering, arts, physical education, and paramedical studies that take two to three years of study. Nine majors including nursing, mechanics courses, and fisheries take three years and the other majors require two years of study.

To achieve their educational goals, junior colleges develop and operate practical on-site training curriculum through "school-industry cooperative" programs and "vocational specialty" training plans and job sheets. Specialty is stressed as part of preparations for the National Certification Examination.

Junior college education is highly valued in Korea as it offers student internships, industry field training for faculty members, education for mid-career industry employees, joint college/industry research programs and exchanges of techniques and information, operation of industry/college cooperation committees, and curriculum development at the request of industries.

University

Universities offer four- or six-year courses, the latter including medical and dental colleges. University education aims to "stimulate the search for truth" and promote advanced knowledge as well as to prepare students for leadership roles in Korea and the world. Universities have shown a great deal of quantitative and qualitative growth in the present decade. As of 2002, there are 197 universities attended by a total of 2,350,871 students, which includes those enrolled in correspondence course programs.

A student who has completed 130-140 credit units or more is awarded a bachelor's degree (except in medicine and dentistry). There are over 600 fields of study, including literature, theology, fine arts, music, law, political science, economics, business administration, commerce, physics, home economics, physical education, engineering, medicine, dentistry, Korean medicine, public health and nursing, pharmacology, agricultural science, veterinary medicine, and fisheries. However, course selection varies according to individual institutions.

The university curricula consist of required courses and electives. One course credit is given to a lecture/class course meeting one hour per week for more than 15 weeks. International students and foreign students of Korean origin are welcome and may be admitted at any level and at any school. All those who have a high school diploma or its equivalent are eligible for admission to undergraduate programs.

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