Postech Tops Educational Spending Per Student

Pohang University of Science and Technology, or Postech, spent the most money on its students’ education in 2008 among the country’s four-year universities.

Based on information on tuition for four-year universities nationwide posted on the college data site (www.academyinfo.go.kr), the Education, Science and Technology Ministry and the Korea Education Development Institute said Friday that Postech spent about 187.4 billion won (169.2 million U.S. dollars) for its 2,942 students in 2008. This means the school spent 63.7 million won (5,754 dollars) per student, 11 times this year`s tuition of 5.42 million won (4,896 dollars) per student.

To calculate the education cost per student, a university divides its combined education costs spent in one year by the number of students. The combined education costs include the general account and accounts for school support fees and development funds and industry and academia partnerships.

Kaya University in Goryeong, North Gyeongsang Province, spent 3.06 million won (2,765 dollars) per student in education, the lowest nationwide and more than 20 times lower than Postech’s average. Kaya’s education cost per student is less than half of this year’s average tuition of 6.86 million won (6,196 dollars).

This year, medical school students at Sungkyunkwan University paid the highest tuition of 10.63 million won (9,602 dollars); followed by art and athletics majors at Hansei University with 10.4 million won (9,394 dollars); engineering majors at Korea University 9.7 million won (8,762 dollars); and natural science majors at Eulji University 9.25 million won (8,355 dollars). Hongik University humanities majors at the school’s Jochiwon campus paid 9.12 million won in tuition (8,238 dollars); education majors at Hallym University 8.85 million won (7,994 dollars), and social science majors at Yonsei University 8.62 million won (7,786 dollars).

In average annual tuition, Yonsei University tops with 9.07 million won (8,193 dollars). The number of universities whose tuition exceeded eight million won (7,226 dollars) rose to 35 in 2008 from 27 in 2007.

The average annual tuition for state-run or public universities for this year is 4.48 million won (4,046 dollars), up 62,000 won (56 dollars) or 1.39 percent from last year. The figure for private universities is 7.54 million won, (6,811 dollars) up 119,000 won (107 dollars) or 1.60 percent from last year.

ruchi@donga.com