CHALLENGES FACING THE OPEN UNIVERSITY: THE CASE OF THE KOREA NATIONAL OPEN UNIVERSITY

Abstract

Although the KNOU has successful history, it has been in a difficult situation, recently. By comparing the statistical figures of the university in the early 1990s and 2000s, we can delineate the followings as the major difficulties. First, there was a sharp decrease in the number of the applicants and students. Second, there was a continuous downward trend of the enrollment rate of the admitted students. Third, there were feminization and aging of the student population. Forth, the academic departments with students less than the quotas increased and the gaps in student numbers between the department widened. In terms of policy implications to the Open Universities, we propose the followings based on the experiences of the KNOU: we should maintain the number of students within a reasonable limit; the Open University needs to do its best to improve quality in education.

Citation

Park, D.-J. and Kim, S.-S. (2005), "CHALLENGES FACING THE OPEN UNIVERSITY: THE CASE OF THE KOREA NATIONAL OPEN UNIVERSITY", Asian Association of Open Universities Journal, Vol. 1 No. 1, pp. 52-64. https://doi.org/10.1108/AAOUJ-01-01-2005-B006