As we commence January 2023, it's the season of college admissions in South Korea.
The Gaokao, often referred to as the "Chinese CSAT," is a standardized national college entrance examination in China. Introduced in 1952, a good 42 years earlier than South Korea's equivalent, the College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT), it is known as the largest exam in the world held by a single country, with over 10 million test takers annually. Unsurprisingly, the Gaokao serves as a gateway for Chinese students to enter Chinese universities. But what will happen if Korean universities create a 'Gaokao admission track'?
The concept of a nation's university entrance exam transcending its borders and being adopted globally presents an intriguing scenario.
The 'one-time filtering' method, which sifts out student eligibility and capacity through standardized tests managed by the government, is prevalently employed in countries where the Confucian tradition of societal advancement through structured examinations remains potent. South Korea, China, and Japan exemplify this approach. Still, standardized exams also play a role in admissions processes in other countries, notable examples being the SAT/ACT in the U.S., the A-Levels in the U.K., the HKDSE in Hong Kong, the NCEA in New Zealand, and the ATAR in Australia. However, none of these exhibit the intense competition seen in the Northeast Asian triad, where measures as extreme as police car escorts for test-takers, alteration of business operation hours, and even changes to airplane takeoff and landing times are seldom observed elsewhere.
The SAT is colloquially known as "American CSAT" in South Korea. However, unlike the CSAT, it is conducted by the non-profit College Board rather than a government institution, and students can retake it multiple times to achieve their best score. Moreover, many U.S. universities adopted a 'test-optional' policy during the COVID-19 pandemic, making SAT scores non-mandatory. Another notable difference is that about 500 universities across 85 countries, excluding the U.S., utilize the SAT in their admissions process. According to the College Board, in Korea alone, seven universities, including Seoul National University, Yonsei University, and KAIST, incorporate SAT scores into their admissions criteria somehow. Including unrecorded institutions, one can surmise that even more domestic universities utilize the SAT.
So what about the CSAT? As previously mentioned, comparing the CSAT with the SAT is challenging due to differences in administering institutions, evaluation systems, utilization methods, and exam scope. Although the CSAT was initially modeled after the SAT, both have evolved over time. If a student who took the "integrated arts and sciences CSAT" in effect since last year were to look at a 1994 CSAT paper, they might question whether the two exams should both be called 'CSAT.' However, changes are not limited to the types of questions, the number and profile of examinees, or the weight and utilization of the exam in domestic university admissions. Foreign universities are also utilizing the CSAT.
Until recently, studying abroad has been largely perceived as a matter of personal choice and therefore has not been adequately discussed within institutional frameworks. While some high schools have operated classes dedicated to studying abroad in the past, they have been sidelined as 'a league of their own.' Students admitted to prestigious universities like 'HYPS' in the U.S. were praised, but those who didn't make it had to endure stereotypes of 'escaping to study abroad because they didn't have the ability to enter domestic universities' or 'enjoying the privilege of being born with a silver spoon.'
However, if universities from countries generally perceived as offering superior higher education environments than Korea—like the U.S., the U.K., and Canada—are recruiting students based on CSAT scores, it goes different. It signifies that the prerequisites or barriers to studying abroad are being significantly reduced, or even disappearing altogether. This is not a far-off tale only seen in Anglophone universities. Japan's Waseda University also accepts CSAT scores, undoubtedly to stimulate applications from Korean students. 'CSAT-based study abroad' is a signal flare for the massification of studying abroad.
The number of Korean students enrolled in overseas higher education institutions peaked at about 260,000 in 2011 and decreased to around 150,000 last year, about 50% of whom are undergraduate students. However, considering that the number of CSAT takers has sharply dropped from about 710,000 to 490,000 during the same period, a detailed look is needed to determine whether the demand for studying abroad has indeed decreased on a large scale. Especially considering the severe disruption caused by COVID-19 to study abroad patterns, it is plausible to forecast a rebound in the demand for overseas education in the post-COVID era, much like the pent-up desire for overseas travel over the past two and a half years is now causing bustling scenes at Incheon Airport. The stark exposure of the quality of domestic higher education during COVID-19, and the subsequent cynical perception by the public, will only accelerate this trend.
Are domestic universities fully aware of the increasing number of foreign universities attracting Korean students through the CSAT? Have they prepared appropriate response strategies? Or will they dismiss it as a minority issue? Are they complacent, thinking those who want to study abroad will do so anyway, adopting an attitude of 'watching the fire across the river'? In a situation where predictions suggest that half of all universities may have to close their doors some day, every single prospective student matters. It's a race with no finish line.
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*Disclaimer
This content is a translation of an article composed in Korean language, which was published in January 2023 on the University News Network, a premier media outlet in South Korea dedicated to higher education. For the original article, please visit https://news.unn.net/news/articleView.html?idxno=540114.
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