The Impact of COVID-19 on Higher Education in South Korea
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.22159/ijoe.2023v11i1.46965Keywords:
course content, internationalization, online education, education quality, evaluationAbstract
The COVID-19 pandemic forced universities worldwide to switch from face-to-face teaching to online remote teaching. The majority of students are dissatisfied as their college lives are completely ruined, and they are not able to maintain their social networks. South Korean higher education has long been troubled by decreasing tuition revenues, an aging problem, the low-level internationalization of university education, and administrative redundancies, and now the pandemic has greatly aggravated these structural defects. Furthermore, course content creation posed a major challenge to professors, while the lack of student motivation and commitment led to a rapid decline in the quality of education and evaluation. Accordingly, students requested a refund of their tuition fees, or at least compensation, and called for the improvement of online courses.
Downloads
References
Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2021). Arrivals-International students in overseas arrivals and departures. https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/industry/tourism-and-transport/overseas-arrivals-and-departures-australia/latest-release#arrivals-international-students. Australia.
Baek, Y., & Jones, R. S. (2005). Sustaining high growth through innovation: Reforming the R&D and education systems in Korea. Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development Economics Department Working Papers.
Bahk, E. (2020, April 24). Online learning goes mainstream as new normal. The Korea Times. https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/nation/2021/07/181_288366.html
Bahk, E. (2021, June 29). University of Seoul’s tuition hike plan for foreign students causes stir. The Korea Times. https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/nation/2021/06/181_311248.html
Gook-jin, L. (2020a). Operation status and improvement plan of online remote learning of sino-korean poetry as a major subject – focused on the 1st semester class examples of 2020. . Han-Character and Classical Written Language Education, 2020(49), 51–72. https://doi.org/10.15670/HACE.2020.49.3.51
Han, S. (2021, March 12). College students in S. Korea unhappy about paying full tuition for another online semester. Arirang News. http://www.arirang.com/news/News_View.asp?nseq=273688
Han, S., Kim, S., Seo, I., & Kwon, K. (2018). An analysis of higher education policy: The case of government-supported university programs in South Korea. Asian Journal of Innovation & Policy, 7(2). https://doi.org/10.7545/ajip.2018.7.2.364
Hodges, C., Moore, S., Lockee, B., Trust, T., & Bond, A. (2020). The difference between emergency remote teaching and online learning. Educause Review.
Hurley, P. (2020). Coronavirus and international students. Mitchell Institute, Victoria University
Israel, E., & Batalova, J. (2021). International students in the United States. https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/international-students-united-states-2020. Migration Policy Institute.
Kang, S. (2019, April 14). Int’. The Korea Times. https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/nation/2019/04/181_267128.html, l students complain of higher tuition rise than Koreans
KESS. (2021). Korean education statistics service. Number of enrolled foreign students at higher education institutions. https://kess.kedi.re.kr/mobile/stats/school?menuCd=0102&cd=5075&survSeq=2020&itemCode=01
Kim, S., & Lee, S. (2020, September 3). ‘Online lecture of 25 minutes replaces each hour of lecture’ . . . lecture know-how replacement due to little regulation. Dong-a Ilbo. https://www.donga.com/news/Society/article/all/20200903/102768554/1
KOSIS. (2020a). Korean statistics information service. Number of Higher Education Organizations. https://kosis.kr/statHtml/statHtml.do?orgId=101&tblId=DT_1YL21181
KOSIS. (2020b). Korean statistics information service. Number of students. https://kosis.kr/statHtml/statHtml.do?orgId=101&tblId=DT_1YL8801
Kye, B., & Hwang, S. J. (2020). Social trust in the midst of pandemic crisis: Implications from COVID-19 of South Korea. Research in Social Stratification and Mobility, 68, 100523. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rssm.2020.100523
Lee, H. (2020b, September 6). Disputes over tuition refunds set to reignite in universities. The Korea Times. https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/nation/2021/06/181_295511.html
Lee, J., Cho, S., & Jung, G. (2021). Policy responses to COVID-19 and discrimination against foreign nationals in South Korea. Critical Asian Studies, 53(3), 432–447. https://doi.org/10.1080/14672715.2021.1897472
Lee, S., Hwang, Ch., & Moon, M. J. (2020). Policy learning and crisis policy-making: Quadruple-loop learning and COVID-19 responses in South Korea. Policy and Society, 39(3), 363–381. https://doi.org/10.1080/14494035.2020.1785195
Mackie, Ch. (2020, November 24). The pandemic drives unprecedented decline in international students. WENR, World Education News + Reviews. https://wenr.wes.org/2020/11/the-pandemic-drives-unprecedented-decline-in-international-students
Ministry of Foreign Affairs. (2020). All about Korea’s response to COVID-19. https://www.mofa.go.kr/eng/brd/m_22591/view.do?seq=35
Sahu, P. (2020). Closure of universities due to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19): Impact on Education and mental health of students and academic staff. Cureus, 12(4), e7541. https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.7541
Shin, J. (2015). Higher education development in Korea: Accomplishments and challenges. In J. Shin, G. A. Postiglione & F. Huang (Eds.), Mass higher education development in East Asia: Strategy, quality, and challenges. Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-12673-9_3
Stacey, V. (2021, May 19). Australia: 31% decline in student starts to March. The Pie News. https://thepienews.com/news/australia-govt-stats-reveal-state-of-the-sector-in-2021/
Still, M. L., & Still, J. D. (2015). Contrasting traditional in-class exams with frequent online testing. Journal of Teaching and Learning with Technology, 4(2), 30–40. https://doi.org/10.14434/jotlt.v4n2.13481
Sundarasen, S., Chinna, K., Kamaludin, K., Nurunnabi, M., Baloch, G. M., Khoshaim, H. B., Hossain, S. F. A., & Sukayt, A. (2020). Psychological impact of COVID-19 and lockdown among university students in Malaysia: Implications and policy recommendations. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(17). https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17176206
Timmis, S., Broadfoot, P., Sutherland, R., & Oldfield, A. (2016). Rethinking assessment in a digital age: Opportunities, challenges and risks. British Educational Research Journal, 42(3), 454–476. https://doi.org/10.1002/berj.3215
Vaessen, B. E., van den Beemt, A., van de Watering, G., van Meeuwen, L. W., Lemmens, L., & den Brok, P. (2017). Students’ perception of frequent assessments and its relation to motivation and grades in a statistics course: A pilot study. Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education, 42(6), 872–886. https://doi.org/10.1080/02602938.2016.1204532
Watermeyer, R., Crick, T., Knight, C., & Goodall, J. (2021). COVID-19 and digital disruption in UK universities: Afflictions and affordances of emergency online migration. Higher Education, 81(3), 623–641. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-020-00561-y
Wear, J. O., & Levenson, A. (2004). Distance education. In J. F. Dyro (Ed.), Biomedical engineering, clinical engineering handbook. Academic Press. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-012226570-9/50079-X
Zhang, Y., Chan, S., Chu, J., & Sulieman, H. (2020). On the Market efficiency and liquidity of high-frequency Cryptocurrencies in a Bull and Bear Market. Journal of Risk and Financial Management, 13(1). https://doi.org/10.3390/jrfm13010008.
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
Copyright (c) 2023 Roland A. Csizmazia
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.