Acknowledgement

In preparing this chapter I was supported by an extensive team. The research advisory board consisted of Professors Oh Nam Kwon, Heon Seok Oh and Jeong Cheol Shin. The team members are all professors at Seoul National University and helped from project conceptualisation to reviewing drafts. Two student research assistants gathered, formatted and translated all the data: Pan Deng (Lifelong Learning Programme) and Hyeok Jun Go (Global Education Cooperation Programme). In addition, my thanks goes to the following people for their considerable time spent in speaking with me about the policy/research process: Dr Shin Il Kim, Dr Chong Jae Lee, Dr Joo Ho Park, Dr Ki Seok Kim and Dr Dong Uk Jeong.

Introduction

The influence of research on educational policy within Korea is as much a history of economic, democratic and social development as it is about the interplay of policy and research. Korea has moved rapidly from the 1950s until today to develop an educational system that has become the backbone of social progress.

Today's researchers are only part of the picture of policy development. The impetus for policy development and change arises as much from an ongoing policy dialogue within the media and among the general public as it does from researchers per se. With a highly educated population that values educational achievement for a number of cultural, economic, political and social reasons, the nexus of policy formation is broad and horizontal throughout the country, as much as it is vertical through research investigation.

Many top universities now require that incoming professors be already well published in the field before they can be considered for a professorial position. Thus, many younger doctoral graduates spend years within research institutes or ministries, building their résumés and networks before becoming professors within colleges of education. Indeed, nearly every professor involved in this particular piece of research had held positions within the Ministry of Education and within a top university and, sometimes, within a national research institute. Their influence in policy development variously took place while a professor, while seconded to the ministry, or before becoming a professor.