[Enemies of Reform⑭] "Reform Must Be Undertaken with the Determination to Reshape the Ministry of Education, Bold Support and Interdepartmental Collaboration Essential"

"The Ministry of Education must reform with the determination to create a new framework. The limitation of the Ministry of Education lies in its narrow perspective. It must break free from the mindset of being the dominant party."

Professor Bae Sang-hoon of the Department of Education at Sungkyunkwan University cited inter-ministerial collaboration, regulatory reform, and bold support as measures for educational reform under the Yoon Seok-yeol administration. Professor Bae is a scholar specializing in education policy and a former Ministry of Education official.

Professor Bae said, "Our country is a nation that has succeeded through education and talent. This is also the secret behind how this small country became the 10th largest economy. Understanding the spirit of the times called the digital transformation and nurturing talent accordingly is a very reasonable matter."

Regarding President Yoon’s recent reprimand of the Ministry of Education and his call for creative destruction, Professor Bae said, "Although the president reprimanded them, it can also be seen as an expectation and empowerment of the Ministry of Education," adding, "Ultimately, it means the Ministry of Education must take the lead."<Related Article> 'Enemies of Reform'

- One of the educational reform tasks mentioned was ‘training one million digital talents.’ What is necessary to nurture future talents?

▲ There are three key elements: inter-ministerial collaboration, regulatory reform, and bold support. As the ministry under the Deputy Prime Minister for Social Affairs, the Ministry of Education must coordinate, mediate, and cooperate. Talent issues are cross-ministerial. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport should ease regulations, the Ministry of Science and Technology should provide financial support, and the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy should connect with companies. The Ministry of Education should initiate regulatory reforms to improve uniform university evaluations and the four major requirements (faculty, campus land, teachers, and basic property for profit use). The four major requirements regulating faculty, campus land, and teachers are nonsense.

Why do you need campus land or teachers when lectures are given via Zoom? It is also inappropriate to evaluate specialized universities in the provinces and research universities in Seoul by the same standards. If regulatory reform is about removing shackles, the catalyst is financial support. Universities barely survive on tuition fees, making new attempts difficult. It is really hard to recruit professors for MBA (business school) programs. Allowing concurrent positions would enable universities to attract excellent faculty.

- President Yoon emphasized educational reform, but what are the limitations of the Ministry of Education?

▲ The Ministry of Education was trapped in a narrow perspective of education and failed to communicate with the world. It did not respond quickly to environmental changes. From an education scholar’s viewpoint, education is not only about ‘industrial workforce training.’ Nevertheless, the ministry neglected this issue and clearly had the perception of being the ‘dominant party.’ This is common among ministries handling systems, but they must move away from a paternalistic, benevolent position.

Universities should no longer remain solely as noble ivory towers. They will be reprimanded, ignored, or marginalized. Ben Nelson, who founded Minerva University, mentioned differentiation and validity different from traditional universities. What is learned in classrooms is disconnected from the context of life.

- What is the most urgent policy at this point?

▲ Comprehensive regulatory reform. Higher education laws are based on a ‘grammar of distrust and regulation.’ The MZ generation (Millennials + Generation Z) nowadays listens to 20-minute ‘short lectures’?can this not be considered learning? Research-focused universities are not the only top-tier universities. A paradigm shift in per capita education expenditure and national-level education investment is also necessary.

The trend of talent development is moving toward higher education. National education investment should shift from focusing on elementary and secondary education to higher education and lifelong learning.

Evaluating all universities by a single standard also standardizes universities. One hundred universities should have 100 different success models. Universities must innovate education as well. They should be able to offer customized learning. Content should be tailored to students’ dreams, careers, and interests. Universities must change by introducing online learning and flexibilizing academic systems.

- The expansion of quotas for advanced departments related to semiconductors and AI (artificial intelligence) is limited by the Ministry of Education’s overall policy of reducing university quotas. How should this be addressed?

▲ A flexible and temporary quota system should be introduced. If many semiconductor departments are created, they will continue to operate, but industrial trends will change again in 10 years. With a sunset clause, quotas should be re-evaluated after 5 or 10 years and adjusted according to industrial demand and trends. Utilizing already reduced quotas is possible without legal amendments, but the fundamental solution is to allow flexible quota increases with a sunset clause. After COVID-19, the bio market has gained significant attention and may become even more important in the future.

- What are the ways to minimize the mismatch and gap between industrial talent demand and educational talent supply?

▲ This is inherently difficult for universities. Universities are places that transmit accumulated basic academic knowledge. They are not structured to follow trends quickly. The nation must design a new talent development system. Universities should teach liberal arts and foundational subjects such as mathematics and physics, and not be solely responsible for applied fields; other systems should complement this. Systematizing education providers’ design and dividing roles to allow necessary courses to be offered across multi-campus systems is also possible.

In AI, it is said that a few hundred top-level talents are sufficient, but many mid-level AI+X talents are needed. We also need redesign according to technological levels. A national statistical infrastructure must be established to forecast manpower demand. The ‘National Talent Development Committee,’ a cooperative platform, should play this role.

- Securing faculty for training talents in new industries like semiconductors is important, but universities face severe financial difficulties. How can this be addressed?

▲ Direct government financial support, easing tuition regulations, collaboration with industry, and fostering shared university projects are needed. Investment in people requires funding. Tuition regulation must be eased, but this requires social consensus. To collaborate with industry, concurrent positions between professors and companies should be allowed. Through shared university projects, lectures can be offered across multiple schools.

Looking at AI, MIT has over 100 experts, while Korea has about 20 each at Korea University, Hanyang University, and Sungkyunkwan University. Combining these would greatly increase available courses, allowing students at regional universities to attend these classes. Creating a platform to recognize credits would be ideal. However, small regional universities misunderstand this as a step toward consolidation or restructuring.

It is questionable how long regional private universities can maintain basic academic departments like Philosophy or Korean Literature. National universities should take on a more public role, and incentives should be provided for national university professors to participate in such shared university projects.

- How can the two goals of universities’ original roles?academic research and talent development?and the industrial demand for talent output be well coordinated?

▲ When meeting corporate HR managers, they ask for students who speak well, write well, are responsible, and have good English skills. Universities must nurture talents with ‘transferable competencies.’ They teach foundational skills applicable even if jobs change. Companies should assist universities with advanced education. Companies currently use university-trained talents without paying. Companies must fulfill their responsibilities. They should actively create contract departments and send instructors to universities. The National Talent Development Committee or similar bodies should coordinate the rhythm among companies, universities, and government.

- The national agenda omitted content related to higher education financial support. How should this be approached?

▲ Universities face severe financial difficulties due to 13 years of frozen tuition, but raising tuition faces public opposition. This issue requires inter-ministerial collaboration. Universities should not be regulated only but supported while being encouraged. Relying solely on tuition increases to cover insufficient funds has limits. A financial support structure involving government (50%), corporate donations (30%), and tuition revenue (20%) could be considered.

- Regional universities are increasingly struggling, and there are calls to support the most vulnerable universities first. What are your thoughts?

▲ Incentives for universities are not only financial support. Deregulation is also an incentive. American universities also ‘do business’ with degrees. State universities in the U.S. earn money through online master’s programs. We can provide incentives to regional universities by easing regulations to allow online master’s programs targeting working adults.

The societal perception that ‘only research-focused universities, i.e., those with professors who publish many papers, are valuable’ must ultimately change. University evaluation indicators focus on papers. What does a professor’s paper have to do with the quality of education? Handong University is also a top-tier university. Society should respect universities like Handong University that teach well.