Page 68 - February EW 2024 PDF

International News

off campus could cost more than 4,000 yuan.
But the topic has become the subject of significant debate
after institutions including Peking University announced
that students on professional postgraduate degrees — pro-
grammes focused on particular professions, such as MBAs
and Master’s in engineering, medicine and public admin-
istration — would not be eligible for on-campus accommo-
dation.
At least ten other universities have stated that students
on professional postgraduate degrees will have nil or lim-
ited access to on-campus accommodation, including Fudan
and Beijing Normal, Nanjing, Nankai and Xiamen universi-
ties. “It will become normal that higher education institu-
tions will no longer provide graduate student dormitories,” Foreign students in Korea: more than welcome
writes Bao Wanqing, a research fellow at Qinghai Normal
University in an opinion article. fer much cheer either, with Korea’s Ministry of Education
According to an annual report on postgraduate enrol- identifying 84 financially insolvent institutions that need
ment, the number of Chinese students on professional to shut down.
postgraduate degrees more than tripled from 197,000 in And there are even greater challenges in the pipeline.
2012 to 649,000 in 2021, representing nearly 62 percent By 2040, the number of Korean students eligible to enter
of all Master’s admissions. China’s Ministry of Education university will drop to 280,000 — 39 percent down from
has set a target of increasing that proportion to two-thirds 460,000 in 2020, according to the Korean Council for Uni-
by the end of 2025. versity Education (KCUE), the representative association
“I do know that many universities’ professional Master’s of four-year universities. Like neighbouring Japan, Korea
students have exceeded the number of academic Master’s suffers from a low birth rate and ageing population. But
students, with the former often being full-time employ- here, the demographic cliff is much steeper.
ees,” says Yingyi Ma, director of Asian studies at Syracuse Indeed, demographic decline has already put scores of
University. “Universities prefer these kinds of professional universities out of business and there are calls for the gov-
programmes — they are cash cows.” ernment to help others shut down gracefully, perhaps by
The number of students taking any type of postgradu- buying their land so that they can afford to offer severance
ate degree in China has exploded in recent years in the pay to faculty and staff. If they are to avoid that fate, many
face of a challenging job market. The number writing the others will have to grapple with a rapidly shifting enrol-
national postgraduate entrance exam hit 4.74 million in ment landscape, on top of adapting to highly disruptive new
2023, up from 2.4 million just five years earlier. “The gradu- technologies and the 180-degree policy pivots typical of the
ate boom is another manifestation of degree inflation in country’s change-loving political leaders.
Chinese higher education. Many students could not find With nearly 74 percent of Koreans enrolling in higher
jobs or good jobs, so they try to get into postgraduate pro- education, it’s unlikely that more domestic learners can be
grammes,” says Prof. Ma. lured into the sector. The focus, then, must be on admit-
ting more foreigners, academics and policymakers broadly
SOUTH KOREA agree. But while this seems an obvious — if not a complete
Internationalisation drive — remedy, the path to internationalisation is far from
straightforward.
FOREIGNERS ARE AMONG THE MORE Last summer, the government published a plan to recruit
than 4,000 who make up Yonsei University’s thousands more international students by 2027. The Study
39,000-strong student body, their presence at- Korea 300,000 initiative plans to make Korean universi-
testing to the fact that Yonsei’s name, hallowed in Korea, ties more globally competitive and to increase overseas en-
carries weight far outside the country, too. Known as one rolment by more than a third, from the current estimated
of the troika of the nation’s top “SKY universities” (along- 180,000. But some scholars feel this is an arbitrary and
side Seoul National and Korea universities), Yonsei is both unrealistic goal.
highly funded and heavily oversubscribed — an adminis- Jun Hyun Hong, a professor in the School of Public Ser-
trator’s dream come true. But elsewhere in Korean higher vice at Seoul’s Chung-Ang University (CAU) and adviser to
education, things are not so peachy. the government on the initiative, believes the aspiration is
Last spring, news headlines warned of “zombie universi- “unsustainable” because it puts production-like emphasis
ties”, near-empty campuses that continue to operate despite on output without fully understanding the complex human
inevitability of ultimate closure. Official figures don’t of- interactions behind them. “I always say that education now

68 EDUCATIONWORLD FEBRUARY 2024