[caption id="attachment_3000" align="aligncenter" width="2330"] Prof. Juho Lee

Former Korean Education Minister and KDI School Professor Ju-Ho Lee travelled to Vietnam as a consultant to the Tertiary Education Reform initiative by the World Bank.

Professor Lee, who served as South Korea’s Minister of Education, Science, and Technology from August 2010 to March 2013, teaches courses such as Korean Human Development, Science and Technology Policy, and Education Economics and Policy at the KDI School.

He also authored the book Positive Changes, which documents how the Korean government nurtured its human resource and established a “powerhouse of talents” through its human development policies that focused on education and science and technology.

Last June, the World Bank Vietnam invited Professor Lee for a special lecture and a book signing ceremony at the Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics (HCMA) in Hanoi.

The translated version of Positive Changes has been used by the HCMA as a reference textbook in its courses.

His lecture titled, “4th Industrial Revolution and Learning Revolution: Korea’s Next Transformation,” traced the transformation of the Korean education system, with emphasis on the role of government to ensure that tertiary education development is aligned with the demands of the labor market.

Professor Lee also presented suggestions on how the Vietnamese government it can maximize its higher education, as well as technical-vocational education and training, so that students can be fully prepared to take on future jobs.

During his work visit to Vietnam, Professor Lee, along with former Korean Minister of Finance and Professor Jaewan Bahk of Sungkyunkwan University, held a policy dialogue with the World Bank Education Team and the President of the Vietnam National University (VNU).

The Korean delegation also met with the Vietnamese Ministry of Education and Training (MOET), led by Minister Phun Xuan Nha, and witnessed the presentation of the Higher Education Master Plan Concept.

During their meeting with the MOET, Professor Lee shared how Korean success in the “early stages” of its higher education program in the 1960s to the 1980s has changed dramatically in present times, given the new challenges posed by the 4^th Industrial Revolution.

By Ranel Ram Cheng, MPP 2016, Philippines