<b><center>KCUE Holds Seminar on Incorporation of Universities in Japan</center></b>

The Korean Council for Education (KCUE) held its annual international seminar on October 31st near its headquarters in Seoul, South Korea. This year’s seminar, attended by about fifty university presidents and other high-level administrators, addressed the current issue of the incorporation of South Korean national universities and specifically discussed lessons to be learned from the incorporation of national universities in Japan.

Professors Kazutaka Yamaguchi from Saitama University, Susumu Otani from Tsukuba University, and Osamu Yaosaka from Kyushu University delivered presentations respectively on the historical context, current status, and outcomes of recent legislation in Japan that changed the status of all national universities to corporate entities legally separate from the government.

Incorporation of national universities has been a topic in South Korea since 1987, but the government began making concrete plans in 2005. Incorporation would entail legal independence from the government and is expected to increase university autonomy and thus competitiveness by allowing independent oversight of university operations, which are currently subject to a high degree of supervision by the Ministry of Education, Science, and Technology.