Abstract
This paper examines the main issues regarding higher education in Korea—where college education experienced minimal interruptions—during the COVID-19 pandemic through a big data analysis of news articles. By analyzing policy responses from the government and colleges and examining prominent discourses on higher education, it provides a context for discussing the implications of COVID-19 on education policy and what the post-pandemic era would bring. To this end, we utilized BIgKinds, a big data research solution for news articles offered by the Korea Press Foundation, to select a total of 2636 media reports and conducted Topic Modelling based on LDA algorithms using NetMiner. The analyses are split into three distinct periods of COVID-19 spread in the country. Some notable topics from the first phase are remote class, tuition refund, returning Chinese international students, and normalization of college education. Preparations for the College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT), contact and contactless classes, preparations for early admissions, and supporting job market candidates are extracted for the second phase. For the third phase, the extracted topics include CSAT and college-specific exams, quarantine on campus, social relations on campus, and support for job market candidates. The results confirmed widespread public attention to the relevant issues but also showed empirically that the measures taken by the government and college administrations to combat COVID-19 had limited visibility among media reports. It is important to note that timely and appropriate responses from the government and colleges have enabled continuation of higher education in some capacity during the pandemic. In addition to the media’s role in reporting issues of public interest, there is also a need for continued research and discussion on higher education amid COVID-19 to help effect actual results from various policy efforts.
Highlights
Almost all countries suffered from the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020
COVID-19 represented one of the biggest and unexpected crises that befell humanity in the 21st Century, and it spared no one in the world regardless of space and time
The government of Korea was quick to respond to COVID-19 with various policy measures and the public adhered to the guidelines well, which contributed to the relative success of the country in avoiding the worst possible outcome from the pandemic
Summary
Almost all countries suffered from the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Economies ground to a halt, and social relations were severed. Classes had to be modified or cancelled, and online classes became the new norm. Students and their parents experienced difficulties adjusting to the new format of education, and instructors had to learn new technologies to teach classes effectively. The government and college administrations had to make a difficult choice between continued education and quarantine, and they modified pre-existing policies and enacted new ones to combat the pandemic. Despite these efforts, a majority of people working in the education sector voiced doubts about the efficacy of the newly-imposed measures
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