| The purpose of this research is to determine if United States graduate school curricula offers alien Korean students an opportunity to learn the general competencies and specific skills identified by Korean experts as necessary to meet the needs of their homeland. In addition, the present flow of Korean students to American institutions of higher learning was compared with enrollments during the previous decade.;General findings revealed that a rising number of Korean students study abroad each year with the United States being the country of preference. Since 1964, the Republic of Korean was among fifteen countries that send the largest number of students to United States institutions of higher education.;In response to the survey, experts in the eight disciplines identified the chief educational needs of high level manpower in Korea with statements of general aims and specific objectives. Among the more general responses were communication skills, comparative knowledge, health needs, human development, human rights, and practical training. These broad aims, as articulated by the informants are linked to this history of education and culture in the Korean society. As in traditional Confucian ideology, much importance was placed on values such as trustworthiness and justice.;The research indicates that the specific needs as identified by the informants appear to have been more explicitly met by the United States programs than are the more general themes. In fact, in some fields, there was a very good match between the experts' assessments of needs and the graduate curricula in the United States.;Several phases of research were undertaken. First, a general documentary survey of literature was conducted to study the history of Korean education. Evolving from the historical background is much of the philosophy and principles expressed by the specialists in the second phase. By surveying opinions of experts in eight disciplines, a detailed list of these perceptions of the current higher education needs of the Republic of Korea was obtained. Survey data was gathered mostly through interview. Some data was gathered through correspondence. Thirdly, the researcher analyzed the programs of the eight universities identified by the Ministry of Education, Republic of Korea as having enrolled the largest number of Korean students within the previous decade. Eight disciplines were examined: agriculture, business, economics, education, engineering, law, medicine, and political science. The curricula of these disciplines were analyzed to determine the "match" or "interfacing" between the programs and the competencies and skills identified by the specialists.;The researcher made five general recommendations and three recommendations for further research. In conclusion, a theoretical model designed to test the relevance of United States graduate education programs for students from less developed overseas is presented. |
