한국의 고등교육 정책과 교양교육의 역사

Abstract

This article aims to review the higher education policy and the history of general education in Korea. The origin of general education is found in the preliminary course (豫科) of Kyungsung Imperial University (京城帝國大學) in 1924, but it was actually only a preliminary course for major education. During the three-year period after the Korean independence, the U.S. Military regime introduced the category of “general education subjects (一般敎養科目)” in the university curriculum for the first time, emphasizing the spread of “general educatin” for the spread of individual freedom and democracy. Such measures by th U.S. Military Government brought about the three-tier system fo the Korean higher education in which general education as well as majors and electives playde a most important role. After the establishment of the government in 1948, the First Republic established the basic foundation for legalization of the education system, such as enacting and promulgating the 「Education Act」 (敎育法) and the 「Enforcement Decree of the Education Act」 (敎育法施⾏令). The policy of higher education in the Third and Fourth Republics was based on state control and fostering. The “pilot college” (實驗大學) system introduced in 1973. And the Article 119, Paragraph ③ of the 「Education Act Enforcement Decree」 (Apr. 20, 1973) reinforced the purpose and position of general education. But the pilot college system failed because the conditions were not mature. Unfortunately after that, general education lost its center and became adrift. In the period of the 5th Republic, the university curriculum was changed to a dual structure of “general education” and “major”, and required subjects and elective subjects were each required to be completed. The Roh Tae-woo administration of the 6th Republic tried to implement the 「Detailed Implementation Plan for Autonomy of Higher Education」, such as the abolition of “national general education subjects”, but the delegation of general education to each college led to subordination of general education in major. The Kim Young-sam administration, which in full swing promoted the policy of higher education autonomy (大學⾃律化), shaken the roots of general education by deleting Article 119, Paragraph ③ of the 「Education Act Enforcement Decree」 in 1995. In addition, the academic divisional system (學部制) implemented in accordance with the “5·31 Education Reform Plan” (5 ․ 31 敎育改革) failed as it was understood as a compulsory means of consolidation and abolition of departments for the structural reform of university. Since the Kim Dae-jung administration, the policy of higher education autonomy has continued to this day, and the government financial support project is giving this momentum. In the process of moving to the 2000s, the institution dedicated to general education of each university, such as Yonsei University’s university college, was established, and the Korean Association of General Education (韓國敎養敎 育學會) and the Korea National Institute for General Education (韓國敎養基礎敎 育院) were launched. The general education of Korean universities, which has a history of nearly 100 years, had to undergo a lot of twists and turns in various higher education policies such as government control, fostering, and autonomy before and after the establishment of the government, but it is now slowly getting out of the long and long tunnel of darkness. We are entering a transition period preparing for a new leap forward.