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Korean Education/Literacy -
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Korea's Main Page
Entrance Examinations in Korea
Colleges and universities in Korea operate under strict enrollment limits. Because of the difference in college admission quotas and the number of applicants, each school year produces a large number of repeat applicants who add to the intensity of competition for college admission. The number of repeat applicants has been declining in recent years due to the expansion of the number of students admitted per year and the increasing number of support systems for repeat students.
The college entrance examination system underwent a drastic reform in 1981. The main entrance examination was abolished and a new system was introduced that combined scholastic achievements in high school with the score obtained in the nationwide qualifying examination to determine the applicant's eligibility for admission.
In an effort to broaden the autonomy of colleges and universities and to normalize high school examination-bound education, a new entrance examination was introduced in April 1991. In this new system, the students' high school records accorded for 40 percent of the overall admissions decision. It also gave individual colleges the right to decide how to weigh the applicants' college scholastic achievement test scores with those administered by the colleges themselves.
In almost all colleges and universities, applicants are also allowed to apply for special screening. Students from farming and fishing villages and handicapped students may be selected through this process. Although the dates for these exams are set by the Ministry of Education, each university can select specific dates at its convenience. Students are allowed to apply for as many universities as they choose only if they are offered exams on different dates.
Information provided by the Korean Embassy