고등직업교육기관의 통합 방안: 전문대학을 중심으로

Abstract

본 연구는 박근혜정부의 국정과제에 따라 새롭게 구축되는 전문대학을 중심으로 유사 기능을 수행하는 고등직업교육기관의 통합 방안을 연구함을 연구의 주목적으로 설정하였다.

Higher vocational education institutes in Korea have been categorized as Junior College, Industrial University, Polytechnic College(within Higher Education Law), Specialized College and College in the Company(within Life-long Education Law). Higher vocational education institutes have contributed to the development of the Korean economy by meeting the needs of manpower from industries. Expansion of these institutes have greatly increased the competitive environment for higher vocational education system in the past. However, they do not now actively respond in recent times to the various needs from labor market, population structure, and advent of life-long learning society. Many critics point out that these institutes have almost same functions and they are not fully diversified or differentiated according to their original missions. That is why these institutes are undergoing major changes in accordance with the Government’s initiatives in recent years. They focus on specialization and restructuring of various higher education systems including junior colleges. As a reform policy of these initiatives, the present Government is trying to launch‘New Junior College System’, which will have functions of granting Bachelor’s degrees and master degrees. Based on the current situation, this study aims at to analyze the current situation of higher vocational education institutes and to explore merging initiatives that the government needs to follow in order to cope with the changes and needs from society.