South Korea has established itself as a rapidly modernizing and growing global force, since their rapid expansion beginning in the 1960’s. Korea has unique business and communication styles compared to the Western World, affecting their transactions as a whole (Figure 1). Concerning business interactions, Koreans prefer to have copious amounts of context and details about the individuals they will be contacting. In accordance with this style of communication, Koreans tend to take an indirect approach by avoiding the word “no” and paying particular attention to nonverbal responses such as appropriate silence, expressive gestures, and humble etiquette. For Koreans, family dependency is extremely valued between generations. Within the schooling systems, strong relationships between the students and the faculty are admired, especially for college students. In Korea personal relationships extend into business and are crucial in doing business. It’s difficult to transition within the Korean government and business hierarchy unless one has strong connections. Educations is one of the gateways to achieving status in Korean society. Schooling is imperative in Korea and the higher prestige of a college can translate to a better chance earning a stable job (GlobeSmart). All of these traits are reflected throughout Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU).
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SKKU strives to uphold its four principles: benevolence, righteousness, propriety, and wisdom. Established in 1398 as the oldest university in Korea, SKKU prides itself on 617 years of excellence. In fact, this university has been recognized as the “NO. 1 Korean Private Comprehensive Universities for 3 consecutive years in the JoongAng Daily University Rankings” (skku.edu). This award takes into account employment, reputation, academic entrepreneurship, internationalization, education, and research, ultimately awarding the best comprehensive university (skuu.edu). Despite these achievements, SKKU students are having trouble integrating into the workforce because the lack of employment opportunities available for recent graduates. The Korean Higher Education system has become an expensive and risk prone burden for its citizens. This is in stark contrast to the highly funded and outstanding results of the South Korean STEAM program leading their schools to rank within the top 5 in all competitive categories (Ministry of Education). Higher education in turn has become increasingly privatized by the chaebols, with over 200 private universities and less than 50 public universities (Ministry of Education). The South Korean Government asserted their want to completely privatize all universities to increase competitiveness and decrease university tuition and taxpayer burden. Federal aid to students quickly drops off once a student has entered into the increasingly privatized higher education sector. Government aid can most readily be achieved through the quasi-government organization Korea Student Aid Foundation founded in 2009. The foundation administers grants and scholarships to Korean students studying in Korea only. Three loans available include the Income Contingent Loan (ICL), with an interest rate of 2.7%, Direct Loans (DL) for financially unstable students at an interest rate of 2.7%, and Loan for Rural Students (LRS) designed to incorporate the rural community with a 0% interest loan. Korean University costs are currently the second highest in the OCED, and $9.8 billion USD of government loans currently outstanding (Korean Student Aid Foundation). The high costs of tuition coupled with the high outstanding debt and low return on benefits have caused pressure for higher education reform in South Korea. Rising university costs coupled with rising unemployment rates for recent graduates have created a workforce issue in South Korea. South Korea has an educated work force at two thirds the population, higher than the OCED average of 40 percent (CNBC 1). While college education was one of the highest in OCED, temporary workers were 24% of the working population. The majority of the working population have been in the workforce for years, with little opportunities available for recent university graduates causing an …show more content…
This program allows SKKU to establish an international curriculum and grant its students the opportunity to study abroad. Currently, SKKU has about 33 global dual degree programs with schools including Indiana University, Peking University, and Emory University. The partnerships with certain universities depend on SKKU’s various departments such as, Energy Science, Law School, College of Engineering, Graduate School of Governance, and the Department of Global Business Administration (Global Challenge
SKKU strives to uphold its four principles: benevolence, righteousness, propriety, and wisdom. Established in 1398 as the oldest university in Korea, SKKU prides itself on 617 years of excellence. In fact, this university has been recognized as the “NO. 1 Korean Private Comprehensive Universities for 3 consecutive years in the JoongAng Daily University Rankings” (skku.edu). This award takes into account employment, reputation, academic entrepreneurship, internationalization, education, and research, ultimately awarding the best comprehensive university (skuu.edu). Despite these achievements, SKKU students are having trouble integrating into the workforce because the lack of employment opportunities available for recent graduates. The Korean Higher Education system has become an expensive and risk prone burden for its citizens. This is in stark contrast to the highly funded and outstanding results of the South Korean STEAM program leading their schools to rank within the top 5 in all competitive categories (Ministry of Education). Higher education in turn has become increasingly privatized by the chaebols, with over 200 private universities and less than 50 public universities (Ministry of Education). The South Korean Government asserted their want to completely privatize all universities to increase competitiveness and decrease university tuition and taxpayer burden. Federal aid to students quickly drops off once a student has entered into the increasingly privatized higher education sector. Government aid can most readily be achieved through the quasi-government organization Korea Student Aid Foundation founded in 2009. The foundation administers grants and scholarships to Korean students studying in Korea only. Three loans available include the Income Contingent Loan (ICL), with an interest rate of 2.7%, Direct Loans (DL) for financially unstable students at an interest rate of 2.7%, and Loan for Rural Students (LRS) designed to incorporate the rural community with a 0% interest loan. Korean University costs are currently the second highest in the OCED, and $9.8 billion USD of government loans currently outstanding (Korean Student Aid Foundation). The high costs of tuition coupled with the high outstanding debt and low return on benefits have caused pressure for higher education reform in South Korea. Rising university costs coupled with rising unemployment rates for recent graduates have created a workforce issue in South Korea. South Korea has an educated work force at two thirds the population, higher than the OCED average of 40 percent (CNBC 1). While college education was one of the highest in OCED, temporary workers were 24% of the working population. The majority of the working population have been in the workforce for years, with little opportunities available for recent university graduates causing an …show more content…
This program allows SKKU to establish an international curriculum and grant its students the opportunity to study abroad. Currently, SKKU has about 33 global dual degree programs with schools including Indiana University, Peking University, and Emory University. The partnerships with certain universities depend on SKKU’s various departments such as, Energy Science, Law School, College of Engineering, Graduate School of Governance, and the Department of Global Business Administration (Global Challenge