South Korea has the highest share of higher education graduates among people aged 25 to 34 in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development at 71%, but the share holding master's or doctoral degrees falls well below the OECD average.
The higher education attainment rate for young South Koreans stood at 71.1% last year, according to an education policy report released by the Korean Educational Development Institute (KEDI) on the 18th. The figure was 22.3 percentage points above the OECD average of 48.8% and exceeded rates in Canada, at 67.7%, and Japan, at 67.5%, both known for strong emphasis on education.
The high attainment rate reflects the rapid expansion of higher education since the late 1990s. The report said the attainment rate for South Koreans aged 25 to 34 rose to 57.8% in 2008 from 33.8% in 1998, a gain of 24.0 percentage points over the decade, while the number of students grew about 31% to roughly 1.94 million from about 1.47 million over the same period.
By contrast, only about 3% of young South Koreans hold a master's or doctoral degree, far below the OECD average of 17%. The share of higher education graduates from national and public universities also lagged well behind the OECD average. As of 2022, national and public universities accounted for 22.1% of South Korea's bachelor's degree graduates, ranking 33rd among the 37 countries that submitted data. For doctoral degrees, the share was 34.4%, less than half the OECD average of 75.7%.