University admission quotas by region may be answer to chronic problems: BOK

Proportional admission quotas by region for universities may be one option to alleviate the country's slew of chronic social problems, such as education inequality, a central bank report showed Tuesday. According to the Bank of Korea report, the country's high educational obsession with tertiary education has been a factor in a series of deep-rooted social problems, namely high private education costs that have contributed to greater Seoul's high population density problem and record low birth rates. In particular, the high educational obsession for high-quality university entry had deepened the transfer of social and economic status to offspring, and residence locations and income levels also created educational inequality. The BOK report also said that educational obsession with so-called elite universities has led to population concentration in the capital and the wider Seoul area, which also propelled home prices higher and delayed marriages and childbirths as well. As one of the answers to these pro blems, the central bank report said that admission quotas for such universities in proportion to regional or provincial student population size may help alleviate such problems. The BOK report said with government intervention, the scheme may be highly effective in breaking up the vicious cycle caused by the country's high educational obsession. Source: Yonhap News Agency