Hanyang University’s Institute of Chinese Studies is hosting an international student forum about the network between South Korea and China on Thursday, school officials said Monday.The topic of the forum will be “Humanities exchange between Korea and China, and the role of students from the two countries.” School officials said the event is a follow-up to the leaders of the two countries agreeing to expand student communications and cooperation at last year’s summit. “I expect students of Korea

South Korea recently confirmed the final plans for the 2017 college entrance exam, known here as Suneung, the most notable of which was to change the current curved grading system to a score-based “absolute grading” system for English.Experts say changes applied to English, one of the major Suneung subjects, are likely to affect the admission process and private education market in the country. The annual exam is conducted in November and graded on a nine-level system.The new policy is likely to

Many teachers in countries across the Asia-Pacific region are suffering from a series of problems including overtime work, gender discrimination against females and the lack of opportunities for professional development, a recent UNESCO report said.Released to mark “World Teachers’ Day” on Oct. 5, the report examined the status and rights of teachers across eight participating countries: South Korea, Uzbekistan, Mongolia, Samoa, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Cambodia and Indonesia. The report, “Teachers

The South Korean government has failed to take appropriate measures to suppress the billowing tuition for English kindergartens, despite its pledge to reduce the increasing costs for private education, an opposition lawmaker said Thursday.The Education Ministry rolled out sweeping measures to reduce the country’s private education spending in December, which included inducing private education institutions -- including kindergartens -- to cut their fees.“I’ve found that the ministry didn’t do so

Professors at Yonsei University on Tuesday joined a nationwide move against the government’s attempt to reinstate state-published history textbooks for secondary education. The move came a week after over 15,000 educators across the country had protested what they claimed was a policy that “downplays democracy and creative education.”Education Minister Hwang Woo-yea has been pushing to give the government the exclusive rights to publish school history textbooks. Currently, eight local publishers

Another group of professors urged the government to stop its plan to standardize history textbooks Wednesday, saying it is an act of weakening the country's democracy.The call came in a statement released by 160 professors from Korea University opposing the plan being pushed by the government to change the system. The government has been raising the need to forge a common understanding of history in a country where people are divided ideologically.Currently, eight private publishing companies pr

Over half of all students taking the “second foreign language” option in this year’s college entrance exam have opted for Arabic, which appears to be fueled by the widespread belief that the curved grading system makes it easier to get high grades in the subject, a local private education firm said Tuesday.According to Haneul Education, 51.6 percent of students who chose the second foreign language for the exam -- known here as Suneung -- will take Arabic test while another 18.5 percent of the a

Opposition lawmakers Thursday blasted the education minister at the parliamentary audit for not providing sufficient information on its supposed drive to reinstate state-published textbooks for secondary education.Education Minister Hwang Woo-yea, who has stated that students needed to learn from “one version of history,” said that it was “inappropriate” for him to say where the ministry stands on the issue as he has not been briefed by the National Institute of Korean History on the matter. The

Cheong Wa Dae Wednesday denied reports that the government has decided to adopt state-published textbooks for secondary education history, amid growing dispute over the possible change strongly opposed by key educators and progressives.The Education Ministry also released a statement earlier in the day denying a local news report that it had agreed with Cheong Wa Dae to allow only the government to author history textbooks.“As of now, the ministry has yet to reach a decision on the state history

The Education Ministry will cut its financial subsidies for 66 colleges and universities that scored poorly in its evaluation on their reform efforts, officials said Monday.The college evaluation, initiated by the ministry in April 2014, aims to reduce the number of student openings at higher education institutes across the country, which is forecast to exceed the number of high school graduates by 160,000 by 2023. “Korea has already entered a phase of rapid decline in students, with at the numb