The Seoul Foreign School has appointed a financial expert in the education sector as its new assistant head of school - finance and operations, the school announced Sunday. Tom Alexander assumed the position this month after serving in various financial positions for independent schools across several major metropolitan areas. SFS is an international independent school in Seoul with more than 1,450 students aged 2 to 18. Alexander’s 35 years of financial experience, 17 years of them bein

Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun directed the education ministry Saturday to consider expanding in-person classes in schools in the new semester. South Korean schools mostly offered remote learning or limited physical attendance last year to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus. "This year should be somewhat different," Chung said at a meeting of the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters in Seoul. "The Ministry of Education is directed to consult with healt

School violence in South Korea nearly halved from a year earlier in 2020 but cyberbullying gained greater presence among students as the COVID-19 pandemic limited the number of in-school interactions, a government data showed Thursday. According to an online Ministry of Education survey of 3.57 million students between 4th grade and 11th grade conducted from September 2019 to October 2020, 0.9 percent of respondents said they experienced school violence, down 0.7 percentage points from the same

Experts call for government to play a greater role in managing struggling institutions’ finances

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Centennial College and Air Canada signed an agreement on Monday to smooth the pathway to Canada for South Korean students who wish to study at Toronto’s Centennial College. The Canadian college is a designated learning institution, meaning it can host international students, with an approved COVID-19 readiness plan. Students can enroll in online or hybrid programs and can travel to Canada with study permit approval and the college’s support. The partnership with Air Canada -- Canad

Yeonsu-gu, Incheon, has been selected to host the UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning’s fifth International Conference on Learning Cities in 2021. The district said Monday that it will coordinate with the Education Ministry, the Culture Ministry, the Incheon city government and the city’s education office to host the three-day conference on “global health education and emergency response” in October. Following the official designation made Wednesday, the UNESCO insti

Local cram schools are planning to take legal action against the government, saying they have been treated unfairly in being forced to close their doors under stricter social distancing schemes. Directors for a number of cram schools in the capital region, which includes Seoul, Incheon and Gyeonggi Province, are preparing to file a lawsuit against the government for forcing after-school study institutes to halt operations amid Level 2.5 social distancing. The cram school directors are in searc

Fear is growing among college hopefuls after Thursday’s national college entrance exam, as the coronavirus situation could hinder their chances of gaining admission to the colleges of their choice. Starting this weekend, a number of universities are kicking off written exams and interviews for early admissions. Universities are looking to recruit 77 percent of their new students for next year by Dec. 27. Konkuk University will have a written exam Saturday, followed by Sogang University,

Tens of thousands of college hopefuls sat the national college entrance exam Thursday, which could determine not only which universities they will attend, but many aspects of their future. The relentless resurgence of the COVID-19 outbreak brought changes to this year’s College Scholastic Aptitude Test, better known as the Suneung here, but some things have stayed the same. The usual scenes of crowds cheering in front of testing centers were nowhere to be seen Thursday morning, with st

Tens of thousands of college hopefuls in South Korea will take the annual national college entrance exam Thursday, so important that many here describe it as one of the most pivotal moments in life. The College Scholastic Aptitude Test, or the Suneung, will begin at 8:40 a.m. at over 1,300 testing sites across the country, and will last until 5:40 p.m. Some 493,433 college hopefuls are to sit the marathon test. Coming amid a fresh wave of COVID-19 infections, this year’s Suneung is argu

As the second semester nears its end, a debate is being rekindled on campuses – should final exams be held in-person or online? While most universities leave the matter up to lecturers to decide, who appear to favor physical attendance to prevent cheating, students fear the risk of infection, as young people have been pointed to as potential silent spreaders of the virus. As the nation undergoes a third wave of coronavirus infections, the number of college students diagnosed with COVID

South Korea on Monday entered the final phase of preparation for Thursday’s annual college entrance exam, to be held amid a relentless resurgence of the new coronavirus. Test papers and answer sheets started to be delivered to 86 local test administration authorities across the country Monday, according to the Education Ministry. Over 400 government officials, escorted by police guards, were to ship the test materials by Wednesday for them to be distributed to 1,381 testing sites on the

Around 490,000 college hopefuls will flock to test sites across the country on Dec. 3 to take the Suneung -- South Korea’s national college entrance exam. On this day, silence brings the nation to a standstill, as the cold air turns jittery with angst. Military training temporarily ceases, flights are grounded and government institutes and banks delay opening by an hour to prevent traffic during the rush to testing sites. Suneung is the College Scholastic Ability Test in Korean -- the

The education minister on Thursday asked citizens to temporarily suspend their usual gatherings ahead of next week's nationwide college entrance exam so it won't be affected by the recent spike in new coronavirus cases. "(I) earnestly ask all South Korean people to suspend their usual gatherings for a week starting today with the hearts of parents with children who are taking the exam in mind," Education Minister Yoo Eun-hae said during a news conference held at the government complex