대학교육의 환경변화와 대학정책의 과제

Social change and university education in Korea

이 글은 우리나라 대학교육이 직면하고 있는 환경변화요인과 대학정책의 방향을 설명하였다. 우리나라 대학교육은 산업화시대에 형성된 교육모형에 대한 국내외적인 도전으로부터 변화를 요구받고 있다. 지식정보화는 전통적 지식관, 교육내용, 교수방법의 변화를 불가피하게 하다. 무한경쟁 체제의 국제경제시스템은 대학의 경쟁력 강화를 요구한다. 이러한 환경변화에 대처하기 위하여 대학은 스스로 혁신을 할 수밖에 없는 상황이 되었다. 대학의 정원정책은 인력수급 계획적 관점에서 재고되어야 한다. 대학은 또한 기능별 특성화를 이루어 전략적 육성분야, 학문간, 지역간 특성에 맞는 비교우위를 갖도록 구조변화를 추구해야 한다. 평생교육 사회에서 대학이 주도적 역할을 할 수 있도록 체제 정비가 되어야하며, 각 대학은 연구여건 강화, 교육의 질 관리, 행정 서비스 개선, 학생 중심 교육 등이 이루어지도록 경영혁신을 이루어야 한다.

As Higher education in South Korea enters the 21th century it is facing a wide range of educational issues and difficult policy choice. Inevitably the extremely rapid enrollment sacrificed quality. The universalization of college education has perhaps provided Korean people with more educational opportunities. But these trends have made the identification and nurturing of talent and creativity difficult. Quality and efficiency concerns are involved in policy pertaining to the admission, administration, teaching, teaching methods, and educational finance. The demands of knowledge and information to be changed into “an information society” also began to ask change in college curriculum, teaching methods, and administration. The role of state in education could no longer maintain its legitimacy. The state’ strong control into higher education became a target of students, professors and parents’ criticism. The self-innovation of colleges and the private sector’s effort for college reform have been more efficient and fitter to adjust to the newly- changing information society. One of the direction of college reform to gain autonomy from the Ministry of Education in student admission and college administration. The Korean universities have to make efforts to be changed into student-centered, continuous, process-focussed, and practical education. The highly-fragmented majors should be also integrated-academic ones to provide students with more efficient and practical education. The universities need to be changed to keep up with the demands of local industry. The colleges’ cooperation with community organizations could contribute to local economy and educational development. The universities should change their educational framework to implement on-line education, distance education, and continuing education to cope with a variety of educational demands.