The Korea Herald

Educational institutes to face new rating system

Nov 12, 2013

The Education Ministry plans to introduce a new university and college rating system as the basis of a restructuring program in line with declining numbers of students and growing financial difficulties at educational institutes, officials said Tuesday.The new system will divide schools into five categories. First-grade schools will be allowed to reduce the number of new entrants by themselves and the rest will be forced to cut their admission quotas in accordance with their grades.Third level i
[Photo News] Road to college

Nov 10, 2013
‘English proficiency in Korea unimproved’

Nov 6, 2013

Despite huge investment and educational zeal, the English language skills of Korea’s adults have not improved and have remained at a moderate level over the past six years, according to a global survey released on Tuesday.Korea is ranked 24th among 60 countries where English is not a native language, according to the English Proficiency Index compiled by Education First, an international education company based in Switzerland.Korea was below Asian neighbors like Malaysia (11th) and Singapore (12
‘Inspire students to become scientists’

Nov 6, 2013

Swedish chemist travels with Nobel laureates to encourage students in science, stimulate curiosity for future breakthroughs
Use online games in classroom learning

Nov 6, 2013

In 1990, the Internet was released to the world. In my country, the United States, we accessed the Internet using dial-up or our household phone line. At first it was adequate since about all you could do was check email and chat by texting in chat rooms. One country got it and declared that everyone would access the Internet via cable. That country was Korea. In comparison it would be like Lionel Messi playing soccer against a man who never got up. Dial-up was so slow you could click on a webpa
Chadwick to host info session

Nov 6, 2013

Chadwick International in Songdo is hosting information sessions and school tours for new applicants looking into admission for the 2014-2015 school year.Two information sessions will be held at its campus in Songdo, Incheon. The first session is slated for Nov. 14 for prospective students from pre-kindergarten to Grade 5, and the later is scheduled on Nov. 19 for Grade 6 to 11 students, the school announced.The school will also hold an open house for all grades on Dec. 7, inviting prospective s
Kids starting school know it all already

Oct 30, 2013

Teachers concerned about too much academic burden on primary students but cautious on plans to curb private education
SKKU hosts forum for Asia-Pacific universities

Oct 30, 2013

More than 500 educational officials and experts from 48 countries agreed to work together to enhance partnership and share new developments in higher education during an annual forum in Seoul on Tuesday.Sungkyunkwan University and QS-ASIA, the U.K.-based university evaluation firm’s Asia branch, is co-hosting the 9th QS ASIA Pacific Professional Leaders in Education Conference and Exhibition on Wednesday and Thursday at the school’s main campus in Seoul.Since its inception in 2005, the forum has
High-security isolation for college exam-setters

Oct 27, 2013

Every October, hundreds of South Korean teachers and professors are sequestered ― like jurors in a mafia trial ― in a secret, guarded compound: prisoners of their country’s obsession with education.For one month, they are kept in complete isolation under conditions that resemble house arrest, with everything down to their food waste subject to rigorous examination.Their sole task is to compile the annual college entrance exam ― the importance of which in the minds of stressed-out students and th
Ministry takes follow-up steps against teachers’ union

Oct 27, 2013

The Ministry of Education has ordered regional educational offices to take measures to return the full-time officials of the recently delegalized progressive teachers’ union to their respective schools within 30 days. The government will take disciplinary measures including dismissal, to those who refuse to return within the given time.The Korean Teachers and Education Workers’ Union was stripped of its 14 years of status as an industrial trade union on Thursday after it refused the government o
Authors refuse revision of new history textbooks

Oct 24, 2013

The authors of Korean history textbooks announced Thursday that they will not comply with the Ministry of Education’s order to make revisions.The ministry Monday ordered the publishers of all eight recently approved history textbooks to make changes amid disputes over a book from Kyohak Publishing Co for its allegedly slanted depiction of the country’s modern history.Revision and supplementation were ordered for 829 parts, including passages regarding Japan’s forced sexual enslavement of Korean
Bridging academia, industry for future growth

Oct 23, 2013

Entrepreneurship education, start-up incubator power Berlin’s top tech university
Texas University plans ‘peace campus’ in Israel

Oct 23, 2013

JERUSALEM (AP) ― The head of Texas A&M University said Tuesday that he plans on opening a branch campus in Israel, a project meant to bring Arabs and Jews together and expand the school’s growing overseas presence.Chancellor John Sharp said that the “peace university” will be located in Nazareth, Israel’s largest Arab city. He said the city, best known as the place of Jesus’ childhood, was chosen after consulting with Israeli President Shimon Peres.“He wanted another aspect added to it, that it
Ministry orders revision of new history textbooks

Oct 21, 2013

The Ministry of Education announced Monday that it had ordered the publishers of all eight recently approved history textbooks to make changes amid disputes over allegedly slanted views on the country’s modern history.Revision and supplementation were ordered for 829 parts, including their descriptions regarding Japan’s forced sexual enslavement of Korean women, the ministry said. The announcement came after the month-long analysis of the textbooks approved on Aug. 30 by the National Institute o
TOPIK takers on the rise

Oct 20, 2013

The number of foreigners and ethnic Koreans abroad taking the state-run Korean proficiency test are on the rise, the test organizer said Sunday.A record number of 67,595 people have applied for the Test of Proficiency in Korean, or TOPIK, that took place at 178 sites on Saturday and Sunday, according to the National Institute for International Education, which administers the test. The NIIED said about 58,000 people took the test in April.By country, China accounted for the majority of applicant