Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Real Reality]

Korea Has Worst Education Deficit in OECD
Korea suffers from the greatest education deficit among Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries, it was reported Sunday. According to the Korea International Trade Association (KITA), the country's education deficit stood at US$4.26 billion in 2002, with expenditure of $4.44 billion and earnings a paltry $185 million. In contrast, the United States recorded an education surplus of $10.3 billion in 2002, Australia a surplus of $2.2 billion and New Zealand a surplus of $500 million.

Some 393,998 Koreans studied abroad in 2004, up 13.3 percent from the previous year. For every foreign student on an undergraduate and masters course in Korea, 22 Korean students study abroad, the report said.

"To reduce the education deficit, Korea must raise the quality of education in the country by ensuring the excellence of institutions and teachers," the report said.
by Park Young-chol, Chosun Ilbo (February 6, 2005)
http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200502/200502060016.html

[Yu_Bum_suk]

Hopefully they will start asking why so many Koreans want to study abroad and look at what they can offer at home. There's no shortage of unemployed PhDs and MAs in western countries who would work here if some aspects of the education system weren't so farcical and dishonest.

It would be interesting to see how many of those abroad were there for a liberal arts education vs. a business or science programme.