National strategies to advance ICT in Korea

There is general agreement that government policies were the main fuel to rapid development of ICT and fast penetration of this new technology into public and private sectors. In Korea, the influence of the government on private sectors remains strong. For instance, private companies have been quick to accept and implement the basic guidelines for ICT established by the Ministry of Information and Communication. In addition to providing a supportive environment for the effective development of ICT, the Korean government has

intervened more directly as well. For the last 15 years, there have been at least six major government programs aimed at improving the state of ICT in Korea. Among these programs, the most outstanding is the National Informatization Framework (NIF) established in 1996. This program set out the roadmap for Korea’s future information technology development (Misko et al. 2004).

The Korean government has adopted a three-pronged approach to intervention. First, it has created the right environment for the development of ICT mainly by establishing pro-market policies of liberalization and privatization of the ICT industry. Second, it has intervened at the non-market end of the supply chain through the funding of the public internet backbone, which is, the Korean Information Infrastructure. Third, it has intervened at the non-market end of the demand chain, by providing information technology training for about ten million Koreans, including homemakers and those who are employed in government agencies, in the army, and in school. These policy efforts by the government were aimed at turning Korea into an ‘information society’.

To note again, the success of Korea’s ICT sector is in large part due to the policy directions that the government has adopted. Among the major policy initiatives are efforts to promote universal access. With Cyber Korea 21 launched in 1999, the government declared war against the digital divide. The 2002 Act on Closing the Digital Divide includes the establishment of the Korea Agency for Digital Opportunity and Promotion (KADO) as well as the Digital Divide Committee. As part of this digital divide project, 500,000 primary and secondary school students from low-income families participated in extra-curriculum computer courses during 2000 and 2001. In addition, 50,000 low-income students with good grades received a free personal computer with a free five-year internet subscription (Misko et al.

2004).

Outcomes of ICT initiatives

The outcomes of government initiatives to promote ICT in Korea can be clearly observed at different school levels and in different sectors.

Every primary and secondary school in Korea has access to the

internet. By 2001, all were equipped with a Local Area Network (LAN), at least one computer lab and access to the government network, PUBNET. The student to PC ratio was 5.8 to 1 and about 67 percent of all schools have a network connection with a speed of at least 2 Mbps in 2003 (KRIIS, 2004). Every student begins computer education from primary school by taking compulsory ICT courses of one hour per week. Middle schools provide three hours of optional ICT training a week and high schools provide two hours per week.

As in other countries, the higher education sector is a pioneer in computer networking in Korea. All public and some private universities are connected to the Korean Education Network (KREN), which can also be accessed by other educational institutions as high schools. In addition, there are online universities, also called cyber universities, which were first established in March 2000. Among the nine cyber universities that opened up in 2000, four offered purely online courses, while the others provided offline courses as well.

Special initiatives to promote e-learning

The fast development of e-learning in Korea is in part due the rapid development of ICT supported and funded by government policies pertaining to ICT in general. The government has given special attention to e-learning setting up distinct e-learning policies that have contributed to the speedy dissemination and growth of education using electronic mediums. In addition, both MOEHRD and MOL sharing the mandate of HRD have contributed their part in fostering e-learning.

In 1996, the PCER made a recommendation to the government to introduce cyber universities in Korea. Accordingly, the Ministry of Education and Human Resources Development in Korea opened up possibilities for the establishment of cyber universities on a trial basis.

These ‘cyber universities’, were renamed ‘distant universities’ in line with a new MOEHRD law on establishing online universities.

In 2000, MOEHRD amended the Lifelong Education Law to include a new clause to legally approve the establishment of online universities according to set standards. It is worth noting that the article related to establishment of online universities is not part of the Higher

Education Law which governs the establishment and operation of higher education institutions. Instead it is part of the Lifelong Education Law which mostly governs the establishment of diverse lifelong educational institutions such as lifelong learning centers affiliated with universities. This is to facilitate the establishment of online universities, because the standards are less strict for educational institutions classified as lifelong learning institutions than those for higher education institutions. Once established, the online universities have played an important role in providing the adult population with opportunities to obtain a degree in higher education while working or remaining at home (Misko et al. 2004).

Another important government initiative aimed at promoting e-learning has been introduced by the Ministry of Labor in the form of internet correspondence training courses (ICTC). This has contributed to the expansion of e-learning in corporate training. The internet correspondence training courses are a part of the VCDP which is supported by Employment Insurance Fund. Under this scheme, companies that provide e-learning to their employees (either by providing training directly or by commissioning their training to other institutions), receive a financial incentive for providing such programs to their employees. As the amount of money companies receive is considerable, it can effectively serve as an incentive for them to expand e-learning. The implementation of this incentive along with the development of ICT infrastructure in Korea has increased the number of existing workers receiving e-learning instructions to meet the company training requirements.