On Nov. 25, President Park Geun-hye urged education authorities to revamp the country’s troublesome college entrance exam, which has faced strong criticism for its frequent errors and inconsistent difficulty levels. Later in the day, Education Minister Hwang Woo-yea said there was a need to “revamp the faulty system” in order to make education “appropriate.”

The back-to-back comments by the highest figures in education system ― of a country often touted for its education fever ―- heralded the possibility of major changes in the field.

By March, the Education Ministry is expected to come up with plans to reform the college entrance exam, known here as Suneung. Some changes to the 20-year-old system are already slated to start in 2017, when the English section of the exam will be graded based on an absolute grading system instead of a curved grading scale.

Local private education firm Yoon’s English School said students may opt for the strategy of finishing “relatively easier subjects” early in their high school year, and concentrating most of their effort on subjects that are more difficult to get high scores in such as math or science.

It added that “safety education” was likely to be a key term in 2015 education. After last year’s fatal ferry sinking left more than 300 people dead or missing, mostly high school students, experts have emphasized the need to conduct safety-related classes in schools.

The government will also decide whether to adopt an absolute grading system for the high school grade point average as well, in which case experts are saying the GPA will be of less relevance than now. Interviews with colleges and extracurricular activities will be of more importance, they said.

While colleges prepare for possible changes in the college entrance system, they are also to conduct reforms of their own. Due to the decreasing number of high school graduates, the government has urged colleges to downsize.

The Education Ministry will carry out an evaluation of their reform plans to sort the colleges into five groups, and will reveal the bottom three groups by August. All but the top-ranked universities will be mandated to reduce student admissions.

Each college is to carry out a self-assessment of its reform plans by March, adding to the to-do list that educational institutes have ahead of the new school year.

But whether school years will continue to kick off in March remains to be seen as, starting this year, the Education Ministry will gather public opinion on whether to adopt a Western-style school year that starts in September.

The ministry officials said the envisioned system aimed to make Korea’s school years more compatible with those in other countries, sparking more student and faculty exchanges with foreign countries.

In addition to attracting foreign students, the government appears set on bringing foreign colleges to Korea as well. The government recently eased the restrictions for establishing branches of foreign schools on global campuses like the one in Songdo International City, Incheon.

Specialized colleges like the Fashion Institute of Technology at the State University of New York are negotiating with the Korean government to become the latest tenants of Incheon Global Campus, government officials said. The IGC currently hosts four foreign universities.

Tertiary education is not the only sector that is expecting changes.

Seoul Education Chief Cho Hi-yeon has been waging an ongoing battle with autonomous private high schools to abolish the country’s de facto elite schools. He has been facing fierce opposition from the schools and the Education Ministry, which recently overrode Cho’s decision to cancel the designation of eight autonomous schools.

Last month, the ministry passed a law to mandate the minister’s approval when stripping elite schools of their status. Observers as well as officials from Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education said this was likely to affect the evaluation for 11 autonomous schools slated for this year.

Among Cho’s other ambitions is to implement the controversial policy by Gyeonggi Province to shift the time students start school from 8:30 a.m. to 9 a.m. Several other education offices are mulling whether to adopt the policy as well.

By Yoon Min-sik (minsikyoon@heraldcorp.com)