Lee, Gilton Eun-Jun

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INTERNATIONAL HIGHER EDUCATION24boards at both national and institutional levels. The na-tional board, known by its Hungarian acronym, FTT, iscomposed of 21 members: half nominated by the highereducation sector, half coming from users such as employ-ers and professional associations, and one government rep-resentative. The FTT is purely an advisory body to theMinistry of Education, but its powers are significant—rang-ing from the development of an overall strategic plan tothe allocation of admission places in universities.The rationale for including boards in the overall re-form program was twofold. First, boards represented astructural solution to the reform objective of “responsive-ness” to changing social and economic conditions. Boardscomposed of users of higher education’s products could helpclarify and promote needed changes. Second, from theuniversities’ point of view, boards could serve a classic “buff-ering” function of protecting them from the vicissitudes ofpolitical forces.Implementation of both reform elements illustratedhere has been a struggle. Structurally, the Prussian modelhas difficulty accommodating the emergence of power inthe middle—anything between the state and the professo-riate. Additionally, each case illustrates the powerful lega-cies of the socialist system in shaping attitudes towardreform. One of the central dynamics of socialist systemshas been the state bureaucracy’s control over allocation anda resulting culture of subordination. Ministry officials wouldnot allow the FTT to function as the principal advisorybody for higher education on issues of integration or anyother major policy arena. Another closely related charac-teristic of socialist societies is the absence of “civil society”or nongovernmental institutions occupying the interme-diate space between government and individuals. Boardsare a foray into this intermediate space and it has been a dif-ficult pioneering venture in terms of legitimacy and power.Clearly integration and other elements of reform haveencountered the classic dynamics of interest group behav-ior found in all societies. Integration leaders come fromregional universities eager to increase their influence andresources. Resistance comes from the larger and more pow-erful Budapest universities protecting their status. The lega-cies of socialism have further shaped and reinforced thisdynamic through an established pattern of networks be-tween ministry bureaucrats and institutional leaders cre-ated to cope with the constraints of a “shortage economy”characteristic of socialist countries.After the euphoria of 1989, the realities of significantreform in higher education in Hungary have become ap-parent as some groups resist change and seek to protectperceived interests and beliefs. However, the legacies ofsocialist systems constitute deeply rooted ways of thinkingand acting that lie not in the particular political system butin the social and economic structures upon which thesesocieties were built. Many involved in higher educationreform in Hungary have concluded that change will take ageneration or two.Brain Korea 21:A Development-OrientedNational Policy in KoreanHigher EducationGilton Eun-Jun LeeGilton Eun-Jun Lee is a doctoral candidate in the higher education ad-ministration program, Boston College. E-mail: <leeeh@bc.edu>.On June 15, 1999, about 1,000 professors demonstratedin the street in Pusan, the second-largest city in Ko-rea. Their slogan was “Withdraw Brain Korea 21!” Threeweeks later, about 900 professors gathered for another dem-onstration in the capital, Seoul. Their demand was the same,“Withdraw BK21!” In the history of Korean higher educa-tion, there has never been a national education policyagainst which university professors have publicly protested.The Brain Korea 21 ProjectIn spring 1999, the Korean government established a newnational education policy to prepare Korean higher educa-tion for the 21st century. The policy, “Brain Korea 21”(BK21), has several purposes: to develop world-class re-search universities, foster the creation of human resourcesthrough graduate schools, nurture quality regional univer-sities, and reform higher education. To accomplish this,the government has decided to invest 1.4 trillion won (aboutU.S.$1.2 billion) into higher education over seven years.Three-quarters of the budget will be invested in support-ing graduate schools in certain fields in the natural andapplied sciences, humanities, and social sciences. The goalis to develop selected graduate schools and universities intoleading world-class research universities in the near future.The remaining institutions will become regional universi-ties that will create the human resources required by localindustrial societies.The project operates on the principle of “selection andconcentration.” All universities applying to the project mustestablish research consortia of collaborative networksamong competent university researchers. Each researchconsortium consists of one leading university and one ormore participating universities. The government providesfinancial resources to selected consortia.The most distinctive feature of BK21 is that graduatestudents in the selected graduate schools will be the direct25beneficiaries of the project. Research funds will not go di-rectly to professors in the form of grants. In large part thebudget will be used to provide a supportive educationalenvironment for graduate students in the form of stipends,financial support for overseas study, research infrastructure,and so on. That is the main reason why the project is calledBrain Korea 21.The government and the Ministry of Education pre-dict that when the project is completed, the universitiesselected for support will have been transformed into world-class research universities. They anticipate that 2,000 gradu-ates with doctorates and 200 with professional degrees willbe produced in selected research fields each year and thatthe amount of scientific research registered with the SocialScience Citation Index will be dramatically increased.The Pros and Cons of BK21BK21 is an unprecedented policy in terms of its scale andplanning—ambitious in its attempt to reform and developKorean higher education. Proponents argue that past poli-cies in higher education finance have focused on distribut-ing of limited resources fairly among all colleges anddepartments. BK21 will change the focus to efficiency ofinvestment rather than equality of opportunity in the dis-tribution of research funds. Supporters of BK21 also main-tain that various research consortia supported by the projectwill create the intellectual foundation for Korean highereducation and society. Furthermore, shifting the focus ofhigher education from undergraduate to graduate educa-tion will mitigate the overheated competition for enteringtop-tier universities.The opposition to BK21 is based on concerns amongmany faculty about the possible negative impacts of theproject. First, the opponents argue that most professors inKorea, except some in top-tier universities, have always hadtrouble obtaining research funds. If the traditional top uni-versities are selected and supported by BK21, the principleof “selection and concentration” will prevent most profes-sors in nonselected colleges and universities from gettingtheir research funded. Furthermore, BK21 may be detri-mental to fair competition among universities, reinforcingthe traditional pecking order, which has long been perceivedas an obstacle in the development of Korean higher educa-tion.Second, most academics suspect that the governmentis trying to reform Korean higher education through theenforcement of BK21. The Ministry of Education requiresa prerequisite for participation in the project: every selecteduniversity must undertake educational reforms under thedirection of the Ministry of Education—such as, reducingthe number of undergraduate students, hiring professorswho teach only at the graduate level, and improving uni-versity curricula. Considering that most Korean collegesand universities have lacked autonomy in many ways, theadministrative devices of BK21 may further depress au-tonomy levels in Korean higher education.Third, although the goal of BK21 was to strengthenresearch capacity in Korean higher education, critics arguethat the project will seriously weaken research activities inthe majority of colleges and universities because of insuffi-cient numbers of graduate research assistants. Universitiessupported by BK21 will receive enough funds to supporttheir graduate students and will thus have a great advan-tage in attracting well-qualified students to their programs.By contrast, most graduate schools in nonselected univer-sities may loose students due to a relative lack of researchfacilities and financial support for graduate students. In fact,since the Ministry of Education announced the results ofthe selection process, many more undergraduate studentshave applied to graduate programs in the selected univer-sities and academic fields supported by BK21.Considering that most Korean collegesand universities have lacked autonomyin many ways, the administrative de-vices of BK21 may further depress au-tonomy levels in Korean highereducation.Remaining IssuesOver the objection of many academics, the Ministry ofEducation is proceeding with the project, with some mi-nor modifications. Despite any problems inherent in BK21,certain universities and fields of study may receive a sig-nificant boost from the project. In economic terms, such asmaximizing the benefits of limited resources, BK21 maybe a rational policy that will yield visible achievements inthe near future. However, the professors’ protests and ob-jections against BK21 imply a failure in the agenda-settingprocess. In fact, the Ministry of Education did not publiclyconsult with the higher education community and failed tohold any public hearings before the official announcementof the project. Moreover, other controversial issues—suchas uneven development among academic fields and theoverdependence on government funding—may also weakenthe effort to promote academic autonomy in Korean highereducation. The success or failure of Brain Korea 21 willshow the effect on higher education of a development-ori-ented and government-controlled educational policy.Author’s Note: I would like to thank Dr. Sungho Lee (YonseiUniversity, Korea) for helpful comments on an earlier draft ofthis article.

Brain Korea 21

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Brain Korea 21

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