Since the economic crisis of 1997-1998 Korean higher education reform has emphasized strengthening international competitiveness. The BK-21 Project introduced in the last issue of this newsletter was the first initiative taken by the Korean Ministry of Education. The second initiative is a report entitled "Development Plan of the National Universities." Released last July. The report reexamines the role and function of national universities as part of an effort to strengthen their academic productiveness and human resources development. The 44 national universities-23 percent of four-year colleges and universities in Korea-are being strongly encouraged to restructure themselves under the guidelines of the report.

Institutional Classification
The report classifies the national universities into four types of institutions, in accordance with their role and function:(1) research universities ; (2) teaching universities; (3) specialized colleges-such as institutions devoted to ocean engineering, teachers education, and physical education; (4) vocation-oriented colleges to meet the needs of local business and industry. The government would determine financial support based upon the specific purposes of each institution. Private colleges and universities compete for excess funds- a kind of "privatization" policy. Another important recommendation of the panel that put together the report is to improve the geographical distribution of higher education institutions. Consolidating or abolishing the national colleges and universities with similar departments in each of seven regional blocs is strongly urged.

Autonomy and Independence
The report also recommended involves a reorganization of the governance system of the national universities. In the present system, the national universities come under the direct control of the Ministry of Education. In the report, national universities are encouraged to become "autonomous institutions" independent of the ministry. When a national university decides to become an "autonomous institution," a governance contract is signed by the minister of education and the university president-on the condition that the president is elected through a public recruitment process, by a search committee under the auspices of the Ministry of Education.

Under the new system, the president become responsible for all matters of university administration, personnel, and finance-independent of the ministry. The president is also free to set the formula for tuition fees. Concurrently, each national university is obliged to establish a "university council" comprised of well-informed people from inside and outside the university. The university council functions as the decision-making organ of the university. As part of this reorganization, the number of clerical staff is to be reduced and staff development activities are to be strengthened.

Improving Teaching and Research
Another area of reform contained in the report is to reinforce the quality control of teaching and research activities. The national universities are being strongly encouraged to introduce new types of incentives such as a contract-based appointments, a yearly stipend system, and additional benefits to the best researchers and teachers. There is a proposal to modify the present university evaluation system run by the Korean Council for University Education, the Ministry of Education, and the Korean Educational Development Institute by establishing the Committee of University Evaluation, which would integrate the various institutional and discipline-based evaluation procedures into a standardized system.

Following the July public hearing on this report, the Ministry of Education incorporated the opinions of concerned persons into the final version. The reform agenda is to be implemented in three stages: (1) a short-term agenda (2000-2002), (2) an intermediate agenda (2003-2005), and (3) a long-term agenda (2006-2010). The ministry expects that short-term agenda items such as the introduction of the university council and the Committee of University Evaluation will be ready in time for the 2001 government budget.

Criticism within the Professoriate
Professors from national, local (municipality), and private colleges and universities in the National University Professors Association voiced their criticisms of the report and asked the Ministry of Education to withdraw it. According to newspaper accounts, a number of professors criticized the report as a backing away from the democratic way of university governance that has been realized under the civilian governments of the past seven years. With regard to the reorganization of the national universities, the author is reminded of the bitter experience of failure in the early 1960s under the regime of President Park.