Korean Educational Development Institute(KEDI)

A Study on Higher Education Financial Policy and Improvement Plan

With the advent of the new government, at a time when the 10-Year Basic Plan for Financial Investment in Higher Education’ preparing for the 2020 should be established, this study closely examined higher education funding policy in Korea from a scientific perspective and reflected the resulting outcomes to propose more effective enhanced plans. The research process was an opportunity to explore policy alternatives that can be utilized in the new government by revisiting both problems caused by the emphasis on quantitative growth of funding for higher education and related solutions. In particular, as opposed to existing studies, it is characteristic that this study offered a macroscopic view of considering cooperation methods aiming to improve the effectiveness of the funding policy for higher education. This exploration process was to build a foundation for converting the government’s support policy, which takes control of universities by using the existing administrative and financial power, to fostering support policy.

For this purpose, first, this study provided the understanding of the concept in the government’s funding policy for higher education and established the perspective of analysis for the enhanced methods. Second, this study developed assessment criteria for funding policy for higher education. Third, this study conducted qualitative and subjective assessments based on expert opinions as well as policy assessment through the quantitative and objective data based on assessment criteria. Fourth, it found the overall research trends in global funding policy for higher education, drawing out implications for policy improvement. Finally, in this study, we suggested measures to improve the funding policy in Korea in the future.