• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.186-196
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• 2018

Junior colleges are higher education institutions that have played a major role in the economic development of Korea by providing the necessary human resources for its industrial development. Recently, however, they have experienced difficulties due to the reduction in the number of students. Therefore, it is time for junior colleges as a representative higher vocational education institution to change their role in this rapidly changing environment, and adopt a survival strategy through mutual cooperation and competition. The purpose of this study was to analyze the current state of the national health universities, to investigate the policy changes adopted by colleges and universities, and to utilize the results as data. This study analyzed the current status of health science colleges nationwide and investigated the policy changes as well as the directions presented to the colleges, in order to use the results as the basic data to promote the diversification of the class periods and degree programs. This study surveyed 636 professors from health sciences departments and industry workers from May 1 to May 30, 2017. 70.7% of the respondents supported the transition of the existing three-year systems of the health science departments to four-year systems. The reason for this is that it is possible to strengthen the field practice and personality education of the students by having a sufficient number of class periods, and to provide them with an equal educational background. The most anticipated effect of the transition to a four-year system is to improve the social status of medical personnel and to improve the educational environment of the colleges/universities. Moreover, the universities, associations of medical personnel and Ministry of Education are expected to play a leading role in the transition to the four-year system. Based on the results of this study, it was concluded that a more systematic and advanced vocational education system for the training of professional healthcare workers is needed in the upcoming fourth Industrial Revolution era. Also, this transition is expected to actively foster the education of advanced health care workers thanks to the diversification of the degree programs through the adjustment of the class periods which can be completed by general university (4-year) graduates.