Open AccessVol. 1: The Excellence of Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Institutions in Korea: Yeungjin College Case Study
Author(s) -
Lan Joo
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
international education studies
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1913-9039
pISSN - 1913-9020
DOI - 10.5539/ies.v11n7p136
Subject(s) - employability , vocational education , graduation (instrument) , excellence , curriculum , premise , restructuring , psychology , pedagogy , quality (philosophy) , medical education , political science , engineering , medicine , mechanical engineering , linguistics , philosophy , law , epistemology
To tackle the issue of skill shortages, many governments are restructuring their respective school systems into more demand-driven systems, which are expected to improve overall school outcomes and external efficiency. In order to assist TVET institutes and governments with the development of innovative methods to improve the outcomes, this study seeks to provide suggestions drawn from an in-depth case study of a successful TVET school. The selection criteria for the case study’s subject required a school to have high external outcomes, i.e. graduate employment rate. The study then assessed whether or not the select school possesses four premise factors (high quality teacher, relevant curricula, strong leadership, and school-industry linkages) and how these factors contribute to the improvement of the graduate employment rate. The study gathered data via survey and interviews of both faculty and students. As for the survey, 693 out of 1,400 juniors and 23 out of 71 professors responded. The interviews were a face-to-face, one-on-one style with structured, open-ended questions. Ten students and ten professors were interviewed separately in a closed room, and 60 minutes was allotted for each session. After coding the raw data, certain themes emerged. The findings suggest that Yeungjin College possesses all the stated premise factors, and the factors directly and/or indirectly influences the graduate employment rate via the enhancement of employability. Additionally, the most determining factor can be altered within different contexts (e.g. TVET policy, labor market) and times.