The relationship between outcomes of promoting university specialization by academic discipline and university characteristics in South Korea

Abstract

This study analyzed the effect of the actualization of specialization promotion by academic fields and disciplines, and the strengths and characteristics of academic fields for each university on university specialization. University specialization of South Korean universities have primarily been focused on engineering in the past, and is now gradually moving towards the expansion of the specialization of convergence. The university characteristic variables that affect the outcomes of university specialization promotion are the size and location of the university, and the university characteristic that affects university specialization are different for each academic discipline. These results indicate that university specialization may be influenced by the environmental factors that characterize the university rather than the university's capabilities or intent to implement specialization. This can be interpreted as the cause of the phenomenon that university specialization has little influence on the university's educational outcomes. © 2017 International Information Institute.