Some say the government should allow junior colleges to extend their programs. However, many universities are opposed to it.




On April 15, the Korean Council for University Education (KCUE) and the Korean Council for College Education (KCCE) debated a bill to extend junior college programs in a room of the National Assembly. Extending junior college programs means changing some departments from 2-3 years to 4 years. The KCUE disagrees with the bill because they think it will cause an over-educated society, which will increase the number of students who have a higher educational background than companies require and remove the differentiation between university and college. However, the bill must be approved because it helps students to be more competitive and students will get a better educational background.

First, students can be more competitive through the bill. Finland is the best example. The government of Finland extended junior college programs to include graduate degrees in 2005. Students can get associate degrees, four-year degrees, and master’s degrees. If the bill is approved, students can get a job in companies which require at least a four-year degree, and the employment rate in Korea will increase. Students can be more competitive.

Second, students will get a better educational background. According to a survey on Incruit, which is a site for getting a job, around 600 of 793 students in university said that they want to go to a college. 380 of the 600 students said that the reason is to learn specific job-related skills. It means that going to university is not the only way to be successful and to get a job. If the bill is approved, specific job-related skills will be provided to students. Furthermore, the mindset that going to university guarantees a job will change and students can get an opportunity to focus on a more vocational education.

Extending junior college programs has advantages such as helping students to be more competitive and students can get a better educational background. Therefore, the bill to extend junior college programs must be approved.




On April 17, the Ministry of Education announced a new project to promote junior colleges. It includes many proposals such as building 10 specialized colleges in such fields as cookery and aviation and introducing institutions to train professional industrial human resources. The goal is to cultivate high class workers such as master mechanics and engineers. Extending junior college programs is the main part of the plan and one of President Park’s key policy goals. Extending junior college programs is a policy to allow colleges to increase their curriculum to 4 years. However, it is having some difficulties due to universities’ resistance. In my opinion, the policy makes the identity of junior colleges vague. Therefore, I oppose it.

Firstly, the law is not appropriate for the main aim of colleges. Colleges are short-term educational institutions. They were opened in 1979 to train professional labor, not to teach academic subjects. Their curriculums are 2 or 3 years. College students learn practical skills and find their jobs right after graduation. Increasing the curriculum and giving bachelor’s degrees to their graduates is not their original purpose. If they do, there will no difference between colleges and universities. A curriculum of 4 years is for university students, not college students.

Secondly, extending junior college programs is incompatible with university policy. According to a policy by the Ministry of Education, universities in Korea will select forty thousand fewer new students by 2017. The reason is the steady decrease of school age people. However, 46 departments in 37 colleges have asked to increase their curriculums. If their demands are accepted, many college students will graduate with bachelor’s degrees like in universities. Therefore, there will no difference between colleges and universities. That has the possibility of causing disorder to the current degree structure. Universities and colleges teach different curriculums, so their degrees should also be different.

For these reasons, introducing the law is not desirable. It is not appropriate for colleges. Moreover, the policy of the Ministry of Education may become inefficient because of extending junior college programs. Therefore, the government should think twice about it.