KDI - Korea Development Institute - RESEARCH - Research Areas

Summary

KDI FOCUS Restructuring Higher Education: Toward a Student-led Model

A dwindling school-age population is expected to place many universities under greater financial distress in the coming decades. The Ministry of Education's strategy of assessing universities and coercing poorly performing ones to reduce enrollment has proved inadequate to speed up the restructuring process. A fundamental solution should be found in letting students, rather than the Ministry, lead this process by providing them with more and better information on individual universities and departments. For instance, the average salaries of graduates should be made public. It will facilitate ‘voting by feet’ by students and force universities to focus their efforts on enhancing their core competencies. It has additional advantages in protecting the restructuring process from political interference, enabling a better matching between supply and demand of skills, and promoting the autonomy in higher education.

- There has been a notable downturn in freshman enrollment rates in recent years, corresponding with the decline in the school-age population. If this trend continues, university enrollment figures could halve within the next two decades.

- The current methodology of the Ministry of Education, which compels universities to reduce enrollment quotas based on evaluation results to obtain financial support, remains vulnerable to political influences.

- This current approach has the potential risk of further eroding autonomy and stifling creativity within universities.

- Delegating the decision on the expansion of majors or courses to market forces, rather than to government entities, might prove more effective in addressing issues of labor oversupply or undersupply.

- Faced with declining enrollments, universities have largely opted for a uniform downsizing of department sizes rather than specializing their programs.

- From a supply-side perspective, the most significant hurdle to restructuring is perceived to be resistance from faculty members.

- Income mobility continues to decline, weakening the expectations for upward mobility

- The role and necessity of national universities warrant a fundamental review. Policies concerning university restructuring should be formulated in alignment with the outcomes of this reevaluation.

Summary

Research Monograph KOR Restructuring the Market for Higher Education

The declining number of students has placed many universities under intense pressure for restructuring. The Korean government has implemented a series of programs to facilitate their restructuring, mainly by evaluating their performance, assigning them targets for cuts in enrollment, and offering financial supports. The heavy government involvement, however, has had several drawbacks, including the efficiency principle compromised during the restructuring process, further encroachment on the autonomy of universities, their increased dependency on government, possible distortion in the sectoral supply of manpower, and the decreasing size of individual academic departments in many universities. The sources of the problem can be found, on the supply side, in the resistance from professors toward restructuring and weak governance within universities, and on the demand side, in the under-utilization of information (e.g., on job prospects upon graduation) by students when choosing universities and fields of study. This research monograph analyzes the data from the Education Statistics Service to study the behavior of suppliers and consumers in the market for higher education and proposes three ways to facilitate restructuring: (1) Scaling down the over-sized public universities and dismantling their soft-budget constraint; (2) eliminating the legal ceilings on the number of students in the capital area; and (3) providing better information on individual universities and academic departments. The aim of the latter two is to encourage students to pursue 'voting by feet' and let their selections, not the government's preference, decide which universities will survive and expand and which ones will exit.

Summary

Research Monograph KOR Education Innovation and Human Capital Development

The Korean economy and society confront a multitude of challenges, including demographic shifts, slowing growth potential, and declining social mobility. These changes, coupled with the transition into the digital economy and the development of new technologies such as AI are expected to bring about various changes in labor demand. These developments demand a swift transformation of the education system to foster human resources capable of adapting to these changes. However, Korea's education system, the foundation of its workforce, is not yet prepared, making it essential to transform all levels of education, from primary to higher education.

Recognizing that nurturing future human resources through educational innovation is a critical task in this era, this study explores innovations in primary and secondary education and reorganization strategies for higher education to create an innovative human capital ecosystem.
Beginning with an introduction outlining the role and direction of education, this paper discusses the need for educational innovation, referencing the social mobility index. We then examine educational inequality based on parental social background and status in the modern Korean society, investigate how the resulting income inequality has become perceived negatively, and analyze intergenerational social mobility using empirical data and various metrics and methods.

For innovation in elementary and secondary education, we suggest establishing a new 'Scholastic Aptitude Test' system, implementing a transition to tiered and customized teaching approaches to increase educational productivity, and developing a teacher training system to prepare for upcoming environmental changes.

Regarding higher education, we assess the performance of cross-applicants in the labor market after graduation, the efficacy of major-specific education in the labor market, and the roles of government and academic institutions in enhancing university competitiveness. Drawing upon these analyses, we present a transformation strategy for higher education to foster an innovative human capital ecosystem.

In conclusion, we highlight the importance of shifting from a supply-focused to a demand-focused educational paradigm and prioritizing the improvement of educational productivity as key elements of the proposed educational innovation.

Summary

KDI Policy Forum How to Save Local Communities Where Young People Are Leaving?

■ As young people are increasingly concentrated in the Seoul Capital Area (SCA), there is growing interest in policies for supporting young people to settle outside of the SCA; however, a better understanding of young people’s location choice is a prerequisite for policy effectiveness.

- The growing presence of young adults in their late 20s and early 30s in the SCA since 2015 requires empirical investigations of the determinants of their location choice.

■ This study empirically analyzes the residential location choice of young people at two distinctive stages---college education and labor market entry---and finds that the policy intervention at the stage of college education is ineffective, while more visible impact is observed for the policy intervention at the stage of labor market entry.

- When high school graduates in the SCA had to out-migrate to a non-SCA region for higher education due to an exogenous demographic shock, most of them eventually returned to the SCA at the later job-search stage. The deterioration of local economic conditions at graduation also resulted in the increased return moves to the SCA.

- Simulations from a two-stage locational choice model that estimated from micro data show that wage subsidies are more cost-effective than educational subsidies for the settlement of young people in the non-SCA areas.

■ Policies for youth require a nationally-coordinated design, considering the impact on location choice, and policies for local higher education should focus on the original goals, not the supplemental goal of mitigating youth outflows.

- Policies for youth need to be better designed in consideration of regional circumstances so as not to encourage youth migration to the SCA. In particular, policy alternatives targeting subsidies and tax benefits for local youth workers are needed.

- The policy for local higher education needs to prioritize improving the quality of education and research functions and strengthening the tie with the local community.

Summary

Research Monograph KOR Redesigning Safety Nets as a Response to New Challenges

The safety net faces new challenges. Non-regular workers are increasing with diversifying forms of employment, but the current safety net does not protect these new types of workers. The COVID-19 crisis highlights the lack of protection for these workers in our existing safety net. Also, the transition to a digital and eco-friendly economy is expected to trigger drastic changes in jobs and put burdens on the most vulnerable workers, which requires strengthening the safety net.

This study examines the limitations of the current safety net in rapidly changing economic and social conditions and provides ways to restructure it in response to new challenges. This study consists of four chapters: income support system, employment safety net, adult education and training, and safety net for sick workers. These four fields have revealed major problems in the COVID-19 crisis and need to be addressed and strengthened to build a comprehensive safety net.

Chapter 1 examines the effectiveness of the income support system during the COVID-19 period and provides an overall evaluation of the system in terms of inclusiveness, poverty reduction, economic responsiveness, and consistency. Chapter 2 analyzes what causes blind spots in the employment safety net and estimates a structural model, including unemployment insurance for the self-employed and unemployment assistance, to suggest policies for a comprehensive employment safety net. Chapter 3 investigates the characteristics of users and non-users of adult education and training voucher programs and examines why the most vulnerable groups in need of the programs do not use vouchers. Chapter 4 analyzes the state of the safety net supporting sick workers and examines the impact of health shock on employment and income to provide implications for the design of sickness benefits.

These four chapters share a common concern about the safety net's wide blind spots, especially for vulnerable workers, and discuss policy tasks. First, the employment safety net does not provide protection for temporary, non-regular workers and the self-employed due to limited unemployment insurance coverage. Also, income support programs for the working-age group are not responsive to economic needs, and support against economic difficulties is insufficient. This study suggests strengthening unemployment assistance for the low-income and vulnerable workers to enhance the inclusiveness and economic responsiveness of the safety net. Second, although anyone can participate in adult education and training institutionally, the actual participation rate of the vulnerable is low. This study points out that it is important to induce their actual participation, not simply an external expansion. Third, insecure workers are less likely to access sick leaves than secure workers. Due to the disparity across workers, sickness benefits under discussion for adoption may also have practical blind spots for vulnerable workers. This study discusses policies that need consideration when designing sickness benefits to provide a secure safety net for sick workers.

Summary

Policy Study KOR Study on Location Choice of Young People

The concentration of population toward the Seoul Capital Area (SCA) continues with the ongoing (net) flow of youth into the SCA. While many policies at the local level are introduced to reduce the (net) outflow of young people, those policies’ effectiveness is often questionable. It is crucial for policymakers to understand the key determinants of the location choice of young people and base the choice of a policy mix on the information.

The first chapter, the introduction of the entire study, discusses the necessity of an integrated view for supporting both local areas and young people. The second chapter delves into the interregional migration of youth, focusing on college education and job search. Using plausibly exogenous shocks at each stage, the author finds that the change in migration at college education is mostly temporary at the affected margin. Conversely, a local recession at the time of college graduation significantly increases the “return movement” of youth toward their previous hometown, particularly for those who grew up in the SCA. The third chapter, a joint work of Joseph Han (KDI) and Chamna Yoon (KAIST), estimates a structural model of two-stage location choice from micro-level data. Policy experiments show that subsidizing “local employment” of “local talents” yields the most cost-effective outcomes at both stages among the policy options considered. The supports for local colleges and universities are ineffective for local settlement, although those supports are still valid for other policy goals such as quality education and research. The last chapter concludes with policy implications.

Summary

KDI Policy Forum Improving Elementary After-school Program for Child Development

■ As the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the need to further strengthen education and childcare, this study looks at the correlation between the participation of elementary school students in after-school programs and their child development and then offers recommendations for developmental outcomes among elementary school children through after-school activities.

- After-school programs are educational and caring activities that schools offer for a certain period apart from the regular school curriculum, tailored to the needs of students and parents. Students choose a course from a list of diverse program options, encompassing school subjects and special talent and aptitude programs.

■ The analysis finds no consistent correlation between participation in after-school activities and the development of elementary school students.

- As for the after-school program, less than one hour of participation led to better health status assessments, and for two to three hours, there were improvements in academic vigor, grit, and body mass index (BMI) but decreased aggressiveness, depression, and peer relationship. In contrast, physical symptoms worsened when participating for two or more hours.

- Such results may be attributed to the differences between the programs, such as varying content composition depending on operating hours, teaching methods, and instructor characteristics.

■ For after-school programs to shore up student competencies, they should share student guidance information with regular classes, form a close link with the regular curriculum, and provide sufficient care backed by positive interactions.

- Provided that student information such as interests, experiences, developmental characteristics, learning history, etc., is exchanged between elementary school courses and after-school programs, the extracurricular activities may provide in-depth stimulation for learning based on the data.

- Affectionate and nurturing care is a prerequisite to bringing out students' potential.

■ It is necessary to expand the instructor pool competent in achieving the well-rounded development of children, widen the scope of after-school program providers to local communities, and have local governments take a managing role over the programs for efficient and effective management.

- In addition to providing compulsory training courses for prospective after-school instructors, the instructor selection process should adopt multi-faceted personality interviews to find out candidates' responses about a given classroom situation for a comprehensive assessment.

- Local governments should play a managing role in planning, promoting, and overseeing after-school activities in the region, including after-school programs at schools. Meanwhile, schools should actively engage and cooperate within this framework by informing after-school program registration details and providing a venue.

Summary

Policy Study KOR Improving Elementary Education to Build Social Capital: Focusing on Afterschool Program

The COVID-19 pandemic outbreak has prompted the spread of the notion that schools should strengthen students' physical and social-emotional skills development by providing reliable care, on top of improving their academic achievement. Against this backdrop, this study aims to analyze how afterschool programs, the education and childcare activities schools offer, are related to child development in elementary schools and offer policy recommendations for improving program effectiveness. Afterschool class refers to education and childcare activities at school after regular school hours, tailored to the needs of students and parents. This study focuses on the correlation between child development of elementary school students and afterschool programs and how to improve program effectiveness, considering the following: throughout the school years, it is at the elementary school level afterschool classes are most widely used, and these classes at younger years stimulate early child development, which serves as a foundation for later development.

To analyze the relationship between afterschool program participation and developmental outcomes among elementary school children, the author uses data from the first and second year of the 2018 Korean Children and Youth Panel Survey, which tracks fourth-graders in 2018 until their first year of high school in 2025 on a yearly basis. The status of child development was measured based on their satisfaction with school transcripts, factors of cognitive development stimulation, and the levels of social-emotional and physical development. Cognitive development stimulating factors are about academic enthusiasm consisting of dedication, vigor, efficacy, and immersion. Social-emotional development comprises emotional issues, life satisfaction, happiness, self-esteem, cooperative consciousness, grit, and peer relationship. Physical development consists of health status assessment and body mass index (BMI). As a yardstick to measure child development, the criteria mentioned above embody the educational goal of helping students lead a fulfilling life by pursuing learning focused on strengths and interests and communicating and cooperating with others in a healthy way. Since afterschool classes and private education intend to develop talents and aptitudes and supplement the regular curriculum, the empirical analysis compares participation in afterschool classes to private education relative to child developmental outcomes of elementary school students.

According to the analysis, child development has no consistent relationship with their participation in afterschool programs but a positive one with participation in private education. Elementary school students participating in afterschool activities for less than one hour show better health status assessments. Children who attend for two to three hours display improvement in academic vigor, grit, and BMI, and on the other hand, deterioration in aggressiveness, depression, and peer relationship. Physical symptoms worsen when participating two or more hours. As for private education, participating for one to two hours exhibits boosted grit, while one or more hours shows better academic efficacy and lesser aggressiveness. Also, two or more hours in private education display enhanced satisfaction with academic transcript, and three or more hours improved academic enthusiasm, commitment, vigor, immersion, attention, cooperative consciousness, peer relationship, and health status assessment. The different structures of afterschool programs children choose depending on the mix of afterschool and private education they are taking or the differences in educators' teaching methods and characteristics between the two may have caused these results.

Given the objectives of afterschool classes, such as holistic development of children, supplementing the compulsory school curriculum, and reducing private education expenses, it may be necessary to improve the quality of afterschool programs.

For afterschool classes to further develop children's cognitive skills, programs need to be linked with formal education and exchange information on the regular school curriculum and student guidance. Sharing student information such as interests, experiences, developmental characteristics, and learning history may enable afterschool classes to construct programs to reinforce academic enthusiasm in students. To put it differently, in regular classes, students efficiently acquire the accumulated academic knowledge and systems. In afterschool classes, they experience real-world applications of regular classroom learning, ultimately inspiring intrinsic motivation to learn, the foundation of self-directed and lifelong learning capacities. Also, during and after the regular school hours, educators need to work together to help the latter, afterschool instructors, better understand the mandatory curriculum.

Furthermore, for deepening children's social-emotional skills, afterschool instructors must provide adequate care coupled with positive interactions. Elementary school students need a positive and supportive role model and a leader who recognizes, encourages, and reinforces their prosocial behaviors. Thus, educators should help students learn how to collaborate, compromise, and reach agreements with others in specific situations. A warm and caring learning environment is a prerequisite for success in drawing out students' potential. While physical activities can simultaneously promote both physical and social-emotional development, afterschool programs can create educational settings conducive to affectionate and nurturing learning for children.

One way to enhance the educational effectiveness of afterschool classes is to provide compulsory training courses for prospective instructors and, from those who completed them, select instructors suitable for helping the well-rounded development of children. This training should include required courses on theoretical and practical aspects of child development by age, teaching methods, communication and relation buildup between educators, student guidance, etc. Through multi-faceted personality interviews on topics like how to respond to a given classroom situation, the selection process should comprehensively assess applicants as dedicated educators. To sum up, it is important to raise the bar for training and selecting instructors but leave operation at the discretion of each school in order to provide student-oriented and customized education.

In addition, it is necessary to broaden the scope of program providers from schools to local communities, and local governments should holistically manage the program to enhance its system and effectiveness. Now, students are offered the same programs even after advancing to the next grade, and a change of instructor means discontinuing the previous program. Limited material and human resources are also obstacles to providing students with various enriching experiences in culture, art, and career. School teachers complain of time constraints to focus on the regular curriculum because it takes too much time to process administrative matters for afterschool classes, including bookkeeping, parental opinion gathering, and instructor selection. For quality afterschool programs, local governments, schools, and offices of education all have parts to play. Local governments should establish an integrated framework in which they play a managing role in planning, promoting, and supervising afterschool classes at schools as well as afterschool activities at libraries, community centers, universities, and welfare centers in the vicinity. Schools should actively engage and cooperate within the framework by informing afterschool program registration details and providing a venue. It is desirable that local governments train, manage, deploy, evaluate, and remunerate instructors, run the programs, and link community resources and education offices to play a leading role in selecting instructors and developing educational items and content compositions.

Especially, schools should operate basic-level afterschool programs and develop them for advanced-level classes before sharing with local communities while managing students' developmental characteristics and learning history under a unified system. In this way, afterschool classes can provide systematic and in-depth learning, differentiating itself from private education. For instance, a professional visits a class and conducts career education, and then students go on a workplace tour in the area to observe the work or have hands-on experience. Also, it is necessary to encourage community members with a certain level of professional expertise to be trained at lifelong education centers and work as afterschool instructors using flexible working hours. Such practices of raising all children as our own are helpful to increasing social capital.

Finally, the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the weaknesses of the Korean education and care system. Remaking afterschool programs in line with the findings of this study would improve the academic performance of elementary school students and broaden their social-emotional support base, contributing to mitigating the vulnerabilities.

Summary

KDI FOCUS Improving Elementary Childcare System in Women’s Growing Economic Participation

□ Despite women's growing economic participation, female employment rates vary considerably across age groups. Women in their 30~40s exhibit the lowest rates, mainly due to the lack of policy support targeting women with dependent children in elementary school. The Korean government has sought to address this by expanding public childcare, but problems like childcare void and high dependence on private education persist. Amid rising social demands for childcare services, taking policy actions to enhance the quality and quantity of public childcare and overhaul its legal framework is of vital importance and requires immediate attention.

- By design, Korean childcare support policy mainly targets younger children, and the relative shortage of elementary childcare services is a hurdle to economic activity for women with dependent children in elementary school.

- Policy efforts for better elementary childcare services are vital to properly respond to women’s growing economic participation

- As elementary childcare classes focus on caring and after-school programs on learning, educational benefits among students differ.

- So far, Korea has no clear policy direction for childcare and a fragile legal foundation for elementary childcare services.

- It is important to figure out why participation in private education rapidly rises after 3 p.m. while it is low in elementary childcare classes.

- Suppose short regular school hours are extended to equip better schools as care providers and induce students to sue public childcare after dismissal. In addition to solving the lack of childcare, it may be possible to reduce dependence on private education with additional educational opportunities.

- If the discussion on increasing regular class hours is to focus on resolving the childcare gap, there should be an in-depth analysis of the use of after-school hours.

- Childcare policies in major countries have progressed in the direction of incorporating learning from supporting child's wellbeing.

- Korea’s care policy needs a proper legal basis and social consensus among stakeholders.

- When children attend elementary childcare classes, mothers are 7.8%p more likely to participate in economic activity and work for extra 4.7 hours per week on average, while they are 8.5%p less likely to use private education.

- On the other hand, among the users of afterschool programs, no statistically significant effects were observed in terms of women’s economic participation, working hours, and the use of private institutes.

- Extended hours of the regular curriculum may not deter the use of private institutes.

- In order to achieve the intended effect of longer regular school hours, authorities need to take policy actions for a significant quality upgrade of school childcare services.

- The function of care services needs to be redefined by establishing a legal basis for operating elementary childcare classes and after-school programs within the Framework Act on Education and the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.

- Elementary childare services need to stay open for longer hours and more applicants.

- Elementary childcare services need a quality upgrade.

- The approach of strengthening the childcare function of schools by increasing the regular school hours needs to be considered in connection with the current care policy.

Summary

KDI Policy Forum Transition from a Two-Parent to a Single-Parent Household and Child Development

■ As Korea is expected to see an increase in the share of single-parent families, this study analyzes the impact of a family transition from a two-parent to single-parent home on child development.

- The level of development is measured based on health, self-regulated learning, emotional disorders, selfperception, life satisfaction, peer attachment, school adjustment, sense of community, and multicultural acceptance.

■ According to the analysis, children who have experienced a transition have difficulties in academic time management but see improvements in their attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorders. However, the impact on other development criteria cannot be confirmed.

- The ability to manage academic time dropped 8.5% while the level of attention and attention-deficit/ hyperactivity disorders improved 14.4%, compared to the averages.

- These results are possibly due to the fact that the children are able to have a positive relationship with the primary caregiver after the transition as they are no longer caught in the middle of the parental conflict.

■ This finding indicates that contrary to the conventional belief, transitions can also positively influence child development, and thus, policy intervention is needed to alleviate the negative effects on learning ability.

■ Housework support programs should be expanded to enable single parents to spend sufficient time parenting and, if necessary, receive help in better understanding their parental role. Also, schools should lead efforts to improve nurturing and learning environments by serving as a key link between families and local community.

- Single parents burdened with household chores cannot invest enough time to establish relationships with their children or gain information about nurturing and education. Programs for such services should stretch to reach single parents struggling with labor, study, disease, and disability.

- Parent education programs that are specifically customized to fit the needs of single parents should be included in housework support programs if needed to resolve grievances in a timely manner.

- Teachers should serve as a learning coach and emotional support for the children, and counsellor for the parents while closely monitoring the children's learning stages and family conditions that can affect academic performance.

- To alleviate the academic difficulties of students, schools should encourage teacher cooperation, promote parent-teacher partnerships, and reinforce parents' capability to provide academic support. They should also take the lead in adopting and driving family support services when a child is in need of help that exceeds the capabilities of the school.

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