Open universities

The Korea National Open University (KNOU) was established in 1972 as the Korea Air and Correspondence University College of Seoul National University and granted university status in 1993. It has a network of 12 regional and 27 local study centers. In 1996, there were 215,788 students enrolled in KNOU's undergraduate and sub-degree programs and the intake was 70.000, KNOU has recently experienced reducing enrollments due to conventional institutions increasing their admission quotas, a decrease in school leavers, and the University 's failure to ensure quality and diversity in provision (Kim & Hong, 1997).