Retrospect and prospect of the Academic Credit Bank System and its advancement of educational wellbeing in Korea

The Academic Credit Bank System (ACBS) has expanded the educational opportunities enormously for learners and has helped to expand the roles that vocational and online organizations play. However, from the perspective of higher education quality, the ACBS has had varying definitions for accepted experiences, which has created potential conflicts regarding the quality criteria for higher education. This article reviews the achievements and challenges of the ACBS, and also looks at the actions that were implemented to address these issues. In doing so, it attempts to offer insight into the policies and actions that led to the creation of the ACBS, thereby providing valuable guidance to those countries that are looking to adopt an alternative higher education system similar to the Korean ACBS.

The issue of accreditation outside of the traditional school system has, in recent times, received critical attention internationally and has been the focus of many discussions about competency-based education progress. The idea that workplace skills and theoretical learning cannot be taught separately has led to the need to develop an alternative degree system. Yet, how do we verify the learning experiences and skills acquired outside of educational institutes, such as within the workplace and the community? This question has paved the way for the Academic Credit Bank System in Korea. It serves as a way for people to track and verify learning experiences, similar to the way college credits are collected in schools. This system expands people's educational opportunities and accessibility at the college level. Furthermore, because of the rapid speed at which technology and information are advancing, it is critical that adults continue their learning even after graduation. As a result of these various needs, the ACBS was created as an alternative to attending university classes. The ACBS was first launched in Korea in 1998 and has developed rapidly since then. By 2013, more than one million ACBS learners were able to continue their learning and receive college degrees.

Thanks to the success of its learners, the ACBS has established itself firmly as the central lifelong learning system of Korea. This system has paved a way for its users to receive college degrees through non-formal and informal learning methods by officially acknowledging the learners' various learning experiences at a higher level, rather than exclusively recognizing only the traditional methods of college-centred education. In this sense, many countries are studying the ACBS as a successful model for vitalizing lifelong education systems.

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