Report from Singapore Strait Times
<http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/asia/story/0,4386,266954,00.html?>

South Korean grads unable to do the job
Employers complain that they have to spend money training staff who are ill-equipped for the workplace

By Lee Tee Jong

SEOUL - Owner Kim Jae Shin of a semiconductor firm has not been hiring any new graduates for the past four years because of several bad experiences.

'While they are good at following instructions, they lacked technical skills and I had to spend money to send them for courses, something that the university should have done,' he said.

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Many employers like him blame universities for turning out graduates ill-equipped for the workplace.

In a recent survey by the Federation of Korean Industries (FKI), human resource managers gave new employees only 26 out of 100 points for their level of knowledge and technical skills.

Samsung Electronics says it spends more than US$65 million (S$112 million) every year on retraining about 6,000 university-educated engineers.

An FKI spokesman said: 'If we continue spending money on such training in this poor economy, it will make us less competitive and we will lose out to rivals.'

The education system, which stresses rote-learning and conformity, has also been blamed.

Seoul National University's Professor Roh Geum Bae explained: 'From elementary school, there is only one message that is drummed into the students, and that is, to excel in the university entrance exam.'

Students spend hours mugging for this all-important exam, which determines the university one goes to, and which in turn influences one's choice of career, lifestyle and even spouse.

Prof Roh lamented: 'Our students are good at regurgitating facts but lack the initiative and creativity to apply them.'

A human resource manager said his company often recruits workers based on university affiliation even if the worker does not have what it takes for the job.

He said: 'I have had arts graduates being accepted for engineering posts.'

The quality of university education has suffered due to a glut of mainly profit-oriented universities, which now number about 130.

Any comments from you guys over in Korea.