Changing facets of Korean higher education: Market competition and the role of the state

Abstract

During the past several decades, the Korean higher education sector has experienced tremendous expansion, while the quality of teaching and research has not improved very much. Despite the fact that higher education had to rely on the private sector for most of its finance and provision, market competition among higher education institutions has, until recently, been heavily restricted by the government. We argue that the government should try to incorporate more market-based policies in order to upgrade the quality of teaching and research at higher education institutions.