Was your university worth it? - comparing expectations and aspirations of university graduates

Thesis

Education in South Korea has been carrying a deeper significance then a dissemination of knowledge. Both historically and culturally education has been profoundly intricated with socioeconomic value that receiving education itself even entailed certain social class significance. Such value of education created a separate socio-educational class, called hakbeol, which is still rampant in the modern Korean society (Jung, 2014). Particularly after the Korean War in 1953, the role of education extended to being an anecdote to various social ill, from uniting the divided nation to reconstructing the destructed economy (Kim, 2004). Naturally such extended role of education was also re-shaping the meaning of HE and HEI as well. The values of education, HE, and HEI are socially recognized and, thus, are well-known. However, whether HE and HEI, specifically of undergraduate level, are appropriately fulfilling its role is remaining unanswered, which this research seeks to answer.

This dissertation utilised semi-structured interviews with 17 participants to analyse aspiration and expectation participants had before university and after attending a Korean university. By examining how interviewees had prepared for university, what, and why, the study analyses what kind of aspiration participants incorporated pre-entrance to university and how the aspirations are shaped.

The majority of participants claimed they had economic aspiration before entering university. Expecting HEIs to guarantee graduate premium either through HC or Signaling, participants were aspiring to have their life preparation completed with the entrance to university. Some participants (3 out of 17) noted they had no expectation before entering university.

However, HEI was not an ending for their employment preparation, but, in fact a new beginning, a steppingstone. Due to such disparity in the degree of universities financial assurance, participants experienced a reality hit that led to psychological voidness, or even to depression. Therefore, in investigating the role of HEIs in contemporary Korea through the perspective of those who had experienced university, HEIs is serving as an employability shaping institution either by knowledge or its name value.

Authors: Kang, E

• DOI: 10.5287/ora-dowz2pgo2
• Type of award: MSc taught course
• Level of award: Masters
• Awarding institution: University of Oxford
• Language: English
• Keywords: university name value; higher education; human capital; educational aspiration; education degree; educational motivation; educational expectation; HE2023; university admission; university ranking; university
• Subjects: Education