Higher education in Korea: Western influences, Asian values and indigenous processes

Abstract

This study aims to identify historic external influences on Korean higher education in relation to traditional values and to provide an overview of contemporary major Western influences. Based on a critical review of the literature, the study explores how traditional values and practices have interacted with recent external influences in Korean higher education. The remainder of this article is organized into four major sections. The first section describes the development of higher education in Korea from a historical perspective, focusing on external influences from China, Japan and the US. The second section analyses the values and culture of Korean higher education in terms of Western influences, Asian values and traditional Korean values. The third section presents the contemporary impacts of the West on Korean higher education, particularly on recent national reform policies brought about by global changes in higher education. Finally, the article discusses the changes in values and culture in Korean higher education caused by external environmental changes in policy at the institutional and individual levels. © 2017 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.