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Higher Education Policy and the
Transition to a KBE in South Korea:
in the Case of Brain Korea 21
Global Futures in Higher Education
Worldwide Universities Network
Seminar Series via Access Grid
Feb. 14, 2006
Jae-Youl Lee
Flow of Presentation
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Characteristics of South Korean Economy
Political Economy of South Korea
Policy Formation of Brain Korea 21
Implementation of Brain Korea 21
Summary
Presenter
• Name: Jae-Youl Lee
• Education
– Ph.D. student, Geography,
UW-Madison
– M.A./ B.A. Geog. Edu.,
Seoul National University, S.
Korea (’01/’99)
• Interests in Geography
– Economic Restructuring
– Urban Development
– Education?
Economic Growth
Rapid growth: near 8 percent annual growth rate, 1965 - 1997
GDP per capita relative to OECD countries and the US (OECD, 2005)
Dependence on Export
% 100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
1960
1965
1970
1975
export in GDP
Leading Export Sectors
1980
1985
1990
1995
domestic consumption in GDP
2000
Year
Political Economy of South Korea
The Origin of a Developmental State
• Developmental State
– Gen. Jung Hee Park (’61-’79)
– State-led development
• 5 Year Plans
• Economic Planning Board
(EBP)
• Export promotion policies
• Domestic market protection
Changes in the early 1990s
• Democratization
• Young Sam Kim Administration
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
1993 - 1998
Sekyehwa = globalization
Freer Market Economy
Abolishment of EPB
OECD membership (1996)
Difficulties in keeping low wage
Other emerging economies
Decreasing terms of trade since
mid-1990s
East Asian Crisis (1997-8)
Making a Transition (OECD, 2005)
Financial support to high-tech and futureoriented sectors such as IT, bioengineering, and
other knowledge-based fields (Government
Announcement on May 25, 1999 )
A national human resources development
project to nurture high quality human
resources required for the knowledgebased society of the 21st century (MOE,
2003)
BK 21 and Economic Restructuring
“The collapse of the science and engineering research
will lead to the complete collapse of national
economy…With manufacturing collapsed 15 years
ago, technological panic will rock the existence of
Korea…The BK21 is a really good policy. Loosely
studying, foolish social science guys like you never
understand, but our scientists and engineers are
feeling its necessity from the bottom of heart.”
(translation from an e-mail correspondence with
Minwoo Son, a former BK 21 beneficiary)
KBE and Government
Reorganization
• 2000 President New Year Speech
“Without revolutionary education
reform, Korea cannot create a
knowledge-based society. Without
knowledge base, we have no hope
for a bright future... To meet the
requirements in New Millennium…
The government will promote
Education Minister to Deputy Prime
Minister to coordinate the entire
human resources development
policies encompassing education,
training, culture, tourism, science
and technology ” (Dae Jung Kim,
former President Jan. 3, 2000)
Ministers promoted to Deputy
PM since 2000
Key Education Ministers
• Traditionally filled by university
professors
• Reformers since the late 1990s
– Hae-Chan Lee (1998 – 1999)
politician
post-crisis education reforms
– Jin-Pyo Kim (2005 - )
Economic bureaucrat
former Economy Minister (2003-2004)
Cooperation with Global Institutions
• A collaborative policy
recommendations from OECD
(2001) World Bank (2000) at the
request of South Korean
government
• Policy recommendations for Korean
HE reforms
1. continue “centers of excellence”
like BK21
2. promote more competition
among universities
3. promote partnership with
industries
4. liberalize national HE market
“The [present] system was developed to
serve the needs of organization of
production in industrial society… The new
knowledge-based economy requires a
different type… The axis of vocational
education should move to the postsecondary level to meet the demands of
knowledge-based economy… The
government has introduced several
measures to improve the quality of
university education… [T]he Brain Korea
21… to prepare for the Korean workforce
for the coming century” (Ch. 3)
Implementation
• Main principles
– ‘selection and concentration’: competitive research climate
– university reforms attached to financial support
(institutional basis for research-oriented universities)
– new workforce with international level creativity
– International cooperation with foreign universities
• How much?
– First BK21 (’99-’05) - US$ 1.4B; post-BK21 (’06-’12) - US$
2.3B (compare with Seoul National University budget US$
430 million in 2005)
• Midterm performance evaluation
– elimination and fund reduction
– criteria: # of SCI publications, patent issuance, university
reforms, etc…
Competitive Research Environment
JY: The BK21 started in the 2nd semester [of 1999].
You might get some money…
HS: BK? It was mean. It required giving money to
only 75% of students under a professor to promote
competition in individual labs… Some mean
professors strictly kept the rule… But, mine was a
gentleman. He distributed evenly after collecting all
as almost others did.
(translation of a talk with a Korean graduate student
at UW-Madison, a former BK21 beneficiary)
University Reform Requirements:
Network to Practices of a GI?
• Reducing undergraduates and increasing
graduates; consolidation of related redundant
academic departments; graduate admission
system to recruit more than half students from
outside; introduction of faculty evaluation linked
with annual salary system; etc…
• Learning-by-doing?: the state’s experience of
financial reform package attached to IMF bailout fund?
International Level Creativity:
Network to Global Journals
• Production of SCI-level articles
(MOE, 2005a)
• Recitation of Representations in
Global Media and Institution (MOE,
2005a)
– An article in The Chronicle of
Higher Education on Jul. 12, 2004
“The reporter [of The Chronicle]
analyzes that a great part of the
success [in scientific researches]
comes from…Brain Korea 21”
– Introduction in a Deutsche Bank
Report on Aug. 1, 2005
“Deutsche Bank introduces South
Korea’s educational reform as a
notable example of success in
human capital accumulation”
International Cooperation: Uneven
Geography of Global Networks
(Count by Presenter from MOE, 2005b)
BK 21 Global Campus
• A new program in the postBK21 (2006-2012)
• 2 million dollars per a year
• To help student participate
in internship and training in
firms in Silicon Valley
• To cultivate global-minded,
future-oriented
management personnel in
the field of S&T
• Benchmarking Singapore
– Overseas College Program
– National University of
Singapore
So, BK21 is…
1. A developmental state’s response to the East
Asian Economic Crisis to restructure national
economy toward a KBE
2. A process of national policy formation hybridizing
heterogeneous ideas and practices from outside
including individual states and global
organizations
3. A discursive construction enabling the coming of
a KBE in South Korea
4. A spatial process that creates uneven
geographies of global networks among South
Korean HEIs