Over-education and University Selection Behavior of Local High School Leavers: A Case Study, Chungbuk, Korea

대학교육기회의 확대와 대학진학행동: 충청북도를 사례로

Since 1980's, the opportunities of higher education have increased absolutely to the extent worrying of over-education. The over-education means that job-seekers having a bachelor degree flow into job market much more than necessary and the problem of unemployment and under-employment becomes more serious. These changes in the labor market can affect the university selection behaviors of high school graduates. This study aims to reveal the impacts of over-education in Chungbuk, a periphery region, Korea. As expected, many of college graduates flow down into jobs asking school years less than higher education. On the other hand, high school graduates have an tendency of choosing a college, especially a college in center region, other than universities in Chungbuk, to expect more stable and rewarding job in income and upward mobility after the graduation of higher education. As the result of this, a regional university district, which means most of students in the region enter college within region limit, is getting broken into more smaller districts, a kind of local district. It can be thought as a sign that the dominance of regional center is weakening and more cities in the region receive a direct affects from center region, not through regional center.

본 연구는 충청북도를 사례로 대학교육기회의 확대가 이루어진 이후에 지역노동시장의 변화 특성과 지방의 고등학교 졸업생들에서 나타나는 대학진학행동의 특징을 밝힘으로써 지방에 있어서 대학교육기회확대가 갖는 의미를 탐구하고자 했다. 대학교육기회의 양적 팽창이 이루어지면서 충청북도의 노동시장에 있어서 대졸 취업자의 직종 하향이동이 심화되고 있으며, 이에 대한 반작용으로 대학진학행동에서 충청북도를 이탈하여 보다 상위 중심지로 또는 핵심지역으로 이탈하려는 경향이 점차 두드러지고 있는 것으로 분석되었다. 특히 이 과정에서 도를 단위로 하는 취학권이 약화되고 있음이 밝혀졌다.