Economic Development and Vocational Education
2. Development of Vocational Education (1960s-1970s) 10)
In the 1960s and 1970s, vocational education underwent significant development as the importance of vocational education was emphasized in order to supply the manpower required for rapid industrialization.
Prior to examining the role of vocational education in relation to the economic development stages, let us consider the overall trends in the educational system and policy. Opportunity for secondary education increased and equalized in the 1960s and the 1970s. The number of elementary school students rose from 3,621,000 in 1960 to 5,658,000 in 1980. For the same period, the number of middle school students increased from 528,000 to 2,471,000 and the number of high school students increased from 273,000 to 1,696,000. As of 1980, the middle school entrance rate was 95.8%, the high school entrance rate was 84.5%, but the university entrance rate was 27.2%. As of 1980, the number of university students was 402,000, making up no more than 3.9% of all students. Although the opportunities for primary and secondary education increased significantly, primary and secondary education conditions did not improve much. As of 1980, the number of students per class was 59.9 and the number of students per teacher was 33.9 in general high schools, indicating that conditions did not improve much despite the increased education budget. The real education budget per student (as of 2008 price) rose from 179,884 won in 1970 to 435,518 won in 1980.
Despite the many changes, the middle school entrance examination system and the
excessive competition for middle school places were having an extremely negative effect. As social consensus for a fundamental solution gained strength, the Ministry of Education announced a drastic measure known as the ‘July 15 Entrance Examination Reformation’ on July 15, 1968.
To ensure the normalization of elementary school education, the middle school entrance examination was abolished in Seoul starting from the academic year of 1969.
Instead, entrance to middle schools was determined by lot for each school district. This new system was adopted nationwide in 1971.
As a result of the non-examination middle school entrance system, the number of middle school students rose sharply and led to a significant increase in demand and strong competition for high school entrance. In 1973, the Ministry of Education finalized the high school equalization policy, which sought to improve the high school entrance system by selecting new students by lot within each school district for academic high schools.
The high school equalization policy was first adopted in Seoul and Busan in 1974 and was expanded to cities with provincial offices by 1979. Despite a temporary scale-down from time to time, the high school equalization policy is widely appraised as positive for having solved various education problems such as the side effects of heated competition for high school entrance. However, the future of the high school equalization policy continued to be a topic of debate because of newly emerging issues such as the deterioration of education for excellence.
From the late 1950s, there had been harsh criticisms concerning the excessive increase in the number of universities and the deteriorating quality of education. University graduates could not find work, not unlike the current situation for university graduates
(the employment rate in 1965 was 37.6%), and the highly educated and unemployed grew in number. The rural economy was stunned by the difficulty of funding university education of farmers’ children.
With the introduction of the Provisional Act on Education in 1961, the military junta reinforced the university control policy and implemented a wide range of actions such as reducing the university quota and abolishing certain departments. Although such efforts ultimately failed for a number of reasons, similar measures became the norm for university policies in the 1960s and the 1970s.
The Private School Act was enacted in 1963, strengthening the government’s control over private universities by granting the supervisory authorities the right of rescission concerning the appointment of executives for foundations and heads of private schools.
The government also declared the Presidential Decree on the Fixed Number of University and College Students in 1965, prohibiting universities from recruiting more students than the quota set by the Decree. The degree registration system was also introduced, which allowed degrees to be conferred only to those who completed the course requirements and passed the relevant examinations at the undergraduate or graduate level within a set quota. This system aimed to prevent illicit admissions and graduations.
As illicit practices concerning universities became a serious social problem, the government attempted to solve it in a systematic manner by amending the Presidential Decree on the Fixed Number of University and College Students in 1969 and implemented the preliminary college entrance examination system11). By building an organic link between university quotas and the national manpower supply policy through
11) Although control over tertiary education became stronger during the 1960s, the absurdity of private education continued.
Private universities continued to produce a large number of illicit graduates by selecting large numbers of students and
the preliminary college entrance examination system, the government attempted to promote the enhancement of the quality of university education by only selecting students deemed suitable for university education. The preliminary college entrance examination system allowed a student intake of up to 150% of a university’s quota. In addition to controlling tertiary education, the government also provided support. Since 1963, the government has paid scientific research subsidies to university faculties and research centers affiliated to universities to reinforce university research capabilities.
Furthermore, from 1965, the private university registration fee limit was lifted, 5% of the total quota of students had their tuition fees waived, and a wide range of scholarships were introduced and expanded. To overcome the shortfall in the national budget, the government utilized Korea’s property claims against Japan and took out an education loan from the World Bank to support the expansion of facilities and equipment for colleges of science and engineering and colleges of education.
The government continued to control the university quota in the 1970s and partially increased it to meet the demand for high-quality manpower required by continuing industrialization. Considering the regional arrangement of strategic industries, the government increased the quota for majors related to the heavy and chemical industries, commerce, and foreign language studies in order to maintain the balance in national manpower supply and demand. However, the quota for other majors remained restricted.
Reformation was seen throughout tertiary education in the form of experimental universities and the specialization of universities. Once designated as an experimental university, the university was no longer bound by the quota for each major but could use a quota for each discipline or each college and recruit students for each discipline.
As a result, the quota for each major became more flexible to meet the demands of social change and student preferences.
The university specialization policy was enforced as part of the heavy chemical industry development policy from 1974. The government aimed to improve efficiency by developing universities suitable for the industrial characteristics of each region based on the contribution of universities to regional and national development and by investing the limited education budget intensively according to the division of roles between universities. Too many new students were admitted to some of the specialized majors and their employment rates dropped, resulting in the criticism that they failed to adequately accommodate changes to the industrial structure. As a result, the university specialization policy became no more than nominal in the 1980s.
Vocational education in Korea was first implemented in full scale from the early 1960s. Prior to the 1960s, the United States Army Military Government in Korea focused on the reformation of vocational education, the promotion of education in science and technology, ‘one person, one skill’, lifestyle education, and so on. As the government focused on the modernization of the industrial structure and the export-oriented economic development policy, Korea’s vocational education was concentrated in vocational high schools in order to secure the skilled manpower required for light industries.
To produce the skilled workers required for execution of the First 5-Year Economic Development Plan in the shortest time possible, the government increased the number of vocational high schools and installed vocational technical research institutes within enterprises. Re-education was provided for teachers in agricultural, industrial, and fisheries schools, a vocational education review board was installed in the Ministry of Education, student practice fees in public industrial high schools and fisheries high schools were subsidized, practice hours were lengthened, and the number of practical course teachers was increased. As central institutes of technical training, the four
high schools. To ensure the continuous supply of technical manpower, the Promotion of Industry-Academic Cooperation Act was enacted in 1963 which, according to the principle of priority in vocational education, stipulated that investments be prioritized in the facilities and operation of vocational education institutes, increased the relative importance of vocational subjects in the vocational high school curriculum, and increased the relative importance of practice in vocational subjects.
The five-year plan for science and technology education promotion was implemented in line with the Second 5-Year Economic Development Plan. The government focused its policy on science and technology. The Ministry of Science and Technology was newly created as a government department, the Korea Institute of Science and Technology was established, and the Department of Science Education was installed in the Ministry of Education. Student quota for universities of science and engineering was raised for universities and the number of technical, fisheries, and marine schools and classes was increased. To meet regional industrial requirements, industry-related majors were installed and expanded gradually in agricultural schools within industrial complexes, supporting the implementation of the agriculture-manufacturing industry translation policy. In order to secure both the quantity and quality of vocational course teachers and practical course teachers, the operation of teacher training institutes was enhanced, field education was strengthened, and compensation for teachers were improved. While improving and developing the courses and curricula to accommodate industry progress, better and more vocational course textbooks were compiled and published. Audiovisual institutes of all levels were established and developed, the Decree on Experiment and Practice was enacted, and the efficiency of facility investment was sought through industry-academic cooperation. The government aimed to increase the contribution from national funds to the expenses incurred by experimental and practice facilities every year to at least 50%, established a basis for rendering support to private vocational schools, and increased loan scholarship payouts on a yearly basis in an attempt to expand the
scope of benefit. Even though those plans were not 100% realized as intended, they had a significant influence on the growth of vocational education. As the plans were implemented, vocational education began to gain vitality, both growing in quantity and gradually improving in quality. The importance of the vocational education promotion policy in the 1960s can also be seen in the proportion of the total expenditure of the Ministry of Education spent on vocational education. The ratio of the total expenditure of the Ministry of Education spent on vocational education rose dramatically from 0.8%
in 1965 to 3.0% in 1969 (see <Table 3-2>).
<Table 3-2> Ratio of Vocational Education Expenditure to the Total Expenditure of the Ministry of Education (1965-69)
(Unit: Korean won in thousands)
Year Total(A) Vocational education
expenditure(B) Ratio(B/A)
1965 16,081,584 130,307 0.8
1966 25,561,972 492,626 1.9
1967 32,527,440 727,975 2.2
1968 45,958,685 1,152,726 2.5
1969 61,200,951 1,817,358 3.0
Source: <Table 2- -3> in Kim (2004)
In the 1970s, the government continued to enforce the vocational education promotion policy in order to supply the required skilled and technical manpower, just as it had done in the 1960s. In 1970, the examination criteria for measuring the practical competencies of vocational school students were established and the practical competencies of students were measured every year. Special night courses were set up in four industrial schools: Seoul, Seongdong, Daegu, and Gyeongnam. In 1971, one model agricultural school was designated in each province and was financed with agricultural funds. This became a foundation of the industry-academic cooperation implementation plan for the modernization of rural areas. In 1972, the Ministry of
Education and the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry jointly designated 12 agricultural high schools nationwide as model schools and enacted the Regulation on Model Agricultural High School Development in July that year. The Decree on Annual Supplementation Standards for Vocational School Experiment and Practice Facilities was also established, stipulating that internal and external facilities be secured to the 78%
level during the five-year period between 1972 and 1976 in order to promote the normal operation of vocational education. Government investment in vocational education grew steadily during this period. The proportion spent on industrial and science education of the total budget of the Ministry of Education increased from 2.9% in 1970 to 4.1% in 1979.
The Promotion of Industrial Education Act was amended in 1973, securing the foundation for vocational schools to implement industrial field practice, and the Promotion of Industrial Education Act Enforcement Ordinance was enacted in June that year, systematizing field practice for students enrolled in institutes of technical education. Technical and agricultural courses in agricultural/technical/fisheries/marine high schools, technical schools, junior colleges, and universities were required to have 2-6 months of field practice, and fisheries and marine courses were required to have 4-12 months of field practice.
From 1974 to 1978, specialization was implemented for vocational high schools nationwide. Although highly skilled labor was required in the policy for heavy chemical industry development, improving the low technical education levels of all vocational high schools across the country at the same time would have required huge amounts of funding and time. As an alternative, the vocational high schools were grouped into four key categories, and concentrated investments were made accordingly for maximum efficiency. Initial efforts started in 1973 with mechanical and vocational high schools, which were precision worker training lab schools. Subsequently, the ‘5-year vocational high school intensive development plan’ was established in 1976 and 82 vocational high
schools across the country were sub-divided into four categories: mechanical and vocational high schools (19 schools), specialized vocational high schools (10 schools), model vocational high schools (11 schools), and general vocational high schools (42 schools). The specialization of vocational high schools was focused on the geographical conditions of mechanical, electronic, and chemical engineering, and other industries and school characteristics. While most of the specialization was centered on the mechanical and vocational high schools, special fields such as electrical, chemical engineering, metal, smelting, textile, ceramics, and food were also included. Students at specialized vocational high schools were required to complete at least 70% of the core subjects, most of which were practice-oriented. The government provided focused support for the related experiment and practice costs and facility costs, among others.
In 1975, the National Technical Qualifications Act was enacted for the purpose of efficiently nurturing the skilled workers required for the development of the heavy and chemical industries through improvements in technical education and enhancements in quality. It now became compulsory for technical school graduation candidates to take technical qualification tests.
Preferential advancement of vocational high school graduates to universities in the same field was also implemented. At least 50% of the entrance quota in education departments and night courses, at least 5% of the entrance quota in fisheries and marine departments, and at least 10% of the entrance quota for other departments had to be filled with vocational high school graduates. From 1977, vocational subjects were included in the preliminary college entrance examination, significantly increasing the opportunities for university education for vocational high school graduates.
In the 1970s, vocational high schools, while not increasing as much as general high
increased at an annual average rate of 10.5% (see <Table 3-3>). In the late 1970s, the number of students grew significantly and the proportion of vocational high school students of the total number of students in all high schools increased from 42.3% in 1975 to 45% in 1980.
<Table 3-3> Number of High School Students by School Type (1965-80)
(Unit: persons, %) Year
No. of schools No. of students
Total General high school
Vocational
high school Total General high school
Vocational high school
1965 703 389 314(44.7) 426,531 216,338 172,436(49.3)
1970 889 408 481(54.1) 590,382 322,685 275,015(46.6)
1975 1,152 673 479(41.6) 1,123,017 640,216 474,868(42.3)
1980 1,353 748 605(44.7) 1,696,792 1,008,147 764,187(45.0)
Source: <Table 2- -4> in Kim (2004)
Institutes of vocational education at the tertiary education level were reformed.
Institutes of vocational education at the university level were consolidated from vocational professional high schools, technical schools, and junior colleges, among others, into ‘junior colleges’. Vocational professional high schools were established as five-year schools for the purpose of developing the skilled workers required for the five-year economic development plans. However, many students dropped out of the five-year-long schools and employment and university transfer were not easy. As a result, these schools were reformed as technical schools, educating high school graduates for two or three years depending on their majors from 1970. The few remaining vocational professional high schools in 1976 were completely reformed as technical schools. In 1979, junior colleges and technical schools were reformed as junior colleges, which functioned as unified institutes of short-term higher vocational education.
The objective of the reformation of junior colleges was to produce the mid-level
workers required for national development (technical workers of the level between the engineers with university education and skilled workers (craftsmen) with vocational high school education). Students were expected to study the academic theories required as industrial society personnel and acquire various skills related to their jobs to nurture their quality and ability to embrace societal and technical development.
The criteria for the establishment of junior colleges were strengthened. Those who passed the preliminary examination for college entrance could enter either junior colleges or four-year universities. A credit system was introduced for the completion of the curricula, the curricula specific to junior colleges were developed and applied as special subjects, and teachers were secured based on new criteria in order to promote qualitative enhancement and the substantiality of education. Only high school graduates who passed the preliminary examination for college entrance qualified to enter junior colleges. As of 1979, there were 127 junior colleges running 91 different courses, and the number of students reached 78,455.