How effective are Korean universities' efforts on diversity issues? A case study focusing on organizational perspectives

• In Event: Focusing on practice and leadership in university offices and initiatives (II)

Proposal

Although diversity is a critical issue in higher education institutions, the existing studies in Korea are limited to extending discourses and sharing common understandings of diversity. The value of diversity in Europe and the United States is pursuing the value of diversity in higher education institutions through diverse strategies or policies (Claeys-Kulik, Jørgensen, & Stöber, 2014; Leon, 2014). Although there were many issues and challenges, the Korean higher education environment seemed homogenous and harmonious because the problems were not publicly argued or shown. Therefore, there were no active discussions of diversity in the Korean context. Nonetheless, issues regarding diversity — discrimination, unfairness, and inequity— arose among university members, including students and staff. Since university members are diversifying, defining diversity and making academic environments inclusive for those with different backgrounds are necessary. Some leading universities began making official organizations to try to solve the discrimination issues and support members who struggle to manage their situations because of their differences in experience.
In the Korean context, diversity discourses are passive and focus on avoiding discrimination according to personal characteristics, including gender, socioeconomic status, region of birth, school of graduation, and age. The Anti-Discrimination Act of the Republic of Korea is a bill and ordinance of the Republic of Korea that prohibits all forms of discrimination in all areas of life, including politics, economy, society, and culture, in accordance with the equality ideology of the Constitution of the Republic of Korea. Since it was first proposed in the 17th National Assembly of the Republic of Korea in 2007, it has been proposed in each newly launched National Assembly. Moreover, each university's official Diversity Council began taking roles to advocate for the value of diversity in higher education based on active methods to provide diverse seminars, reports and guidelines. However, as of 2023, only six universities in Korea have established such organizations (University Diversity Council Founding Statement in Korean).
This study aims to explore Korean universities' efforts in their structural and organizational approaches to diversity. Some highly ranked international universities in Korea react more sensitively to the issues of diversity than others, although many universities are at the starting point. First, we explore cases of universities with official, purposeful diversity organizations. We identify which universities have such councils and the roles they take within each institution and focus on the composition of the committee members in the organization.
Specifically, we will analyze the University Diversity Council in universities with missions, goals, and provisions. We will also explore the composition of council members to determine whether the organization was established for sincere development or as a virtue-signaling measure. Since the structures of the councils are not always sufficient for practices, an in-depth investigation of the university councils is necessary. We will also analyze the reports from university councils. Using analyses of the report's contents, we will confirm the main topics and issues the councils and universities in Korea focused on and emphasized.
Through these analyses, we will identify the strengths and weaknesses of diversity councils as official organizations of universities in Korea and how the councils highlight the importance of diversity to university members and expand to other universities to establish official organizations for diversity.

Authors

• Yangson Kim, Hiroshima University

• Inyoung Song, Korea University