A Korean businessman who runs a four-year college in the Philippines is planning to set up a university in the country. “We’re now in talks with the authorities to upgrade our college as a full-scale university,” said Kim Nang-kyu, the chairman of Ebenezer International College in the Philippines.“We’re planning to open engineering and physical education courses next year. We’re also in talks with American schools to open an international law school here,” he added.The 58-year-old Kim, who emigr

Over the last 30 years, Korea has experienced unmatched progress in higher education. The percentage of high-school graduates attending higher education institutions has steadily increased, with Korea now ranking first among 25 OECD countries in terms of the percentage of 25- to 34-year-olds who have tertiary degrees. This boom in higher education has led to an increasingly well-educated population. Much of this success is due to the firm foundation laid by K-12 education. Universities have four

Lawyer-turned-educator emphasizes importance of creative learning, interactive English study

There is an exclusive set of issues that is regarded as “global.” War, humanitarian disasters, international development and economics are issues where people think, act and care beyond the borders of their own state. In a few weeks’ time, at the Qatar National Conference Center in Doha, innovators from a wide variety of sectors around the world will come together to add another issue to this exclusive set: education. That is education ― not as a bolt-on to international development programs, wo

International teacher exchange programs help students learn different cultures, languages

Overshadowed by the presidential campaign, another heated race is under way for the top post of education in Seoul. The by-election for the superintendent of the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education is to be held simultaneously with the Dec. 19 presidential election.Although political parties cannot directly be involved in the election of a superintendent, but candidates for both president and superintendent are forming coalitions in order to boost their chances of winning in next month’s elec

International schools to turn the resort island into an English education hub

South Korea ranked 21st among 54 countries in the English proficiency index, indicating its people’s English-language skills are “moderate,” a global survey showed.EF Englishtown, an education company, released its second survey for the year 2012, which asked 1.7 m people over three years in 54 countries to take a free online test. The respondents were more urban and younger than the general population, the survey noted.English proficiency was graded on five levels -- very high, high, moderate,

As the economic crisis continues to squeeze budgets worldwide, the severe lack of youth skills is more damaging than ever. The world’s youth population has never been larger, but one in eight young people is unemployed and over a quarter of them are trapped in jobs that keep them on or below the poverty line. What should we do to help these young people? South Korea’s experience over the past 40 years offers many lessons, as the 2012 Education for All Global Monitoring Report, “Putting Education