Investigation of mechatronic education in South Korea

This paper presents diverse aspects of South Korean mechatronic education in an effort to provide the basis of constructing a more desirable educational system on mechatronics. For this purpose, an analysis of the curriculum of 15 universities with departments of mechatronics are presented. It can be said that, in South Korea, characteristics of mechatronic education is that independent organizations for Mechatronics are operated over 15 universities and their curriculum is evolved to adapt local industrial environments. Almost all of them are trying to meet the requirements of Accreditation Board of Engineering Education of Korea (ABEEK), which is very similar to Accreditation Board of Engineering and Technology (ABET) in the United States. Another distinguishing feature is that the National Qualification Test for Mechatronics is offered in South Korea. The problem to be solved in near future is that there are some conflicts between ABEEK requirements and National Qualification Test. The ratio of students from vocational high schools entering 4-year universities is increasing in South Korea. The same tendency can be found in Japan, and some universities are trying to offer preparation courses to provide basic knowledge on physics, mathematics and chemistry to them.