Abstract
The purpose of this study is to conceptualize some issues around university restructuring in Korea, and explore rational-practical solutions ensuring the survival of higher education institutes confronting many challenges like rapid decreasing rate of birth, global open market of higher education system, and the phenomena of concentration on capital city area etc.. In order to achieve study goals, higher education policies and provisions of past governments from DaeJung Kim's to current MeongBak Lee's were analyzed, and also characteristics and directions of university restructuring of each government were identified. Through this analysis, it was evident that the main concern of university restucturing discourse was primarily focused on how to make public universities have high level of competitiveness. On the other hand, private universities had been totally alienated from university restructuring discourse since 1990's, despite their historical and great contributions to national development of our country. Based on some criticisms of educational policies of national government and partial revision proposal of the higher education act initiated by a few assemblymen, this study suggested eight solutions for developmental restructuring of private universities; constructing comprehensive framework of university restructuring, keeping market-friendly restructuring principle to allow universities take an autonomous position, revising methods, criteria and indexes of university evaluation, reducing the number of enrolling students, not the number of universities and colleges, a new policy to develop local universities allying with universities located at capital city area, differentiating private universities into two types of semi- or quasi-national university and complete autonomous university, legislating financial supports to private universities, and lastly, equal treatment of public and private universities in pursuit of half price tuition.