In Korea, SKY is an
acronym to identify the top three Korean universities. S stands for
Seoul National University (SNU). K stands for
Korea University. Y stands for
Yonsei University. Compared to America's HYP (
Harvard,
Yale,
Princeton)
trinity, SNU is considered Korea's Harvard. Korea University and Yonsei take up the Yale/Princeton roles.
Much like
Japan, entry into these top flight universities guarantees easy access to government (SNU primarily), the executive track in Korea's major
chaebols, and the foreign service.
It's not all
pie in the SKY these days.
The public school system is viewed as incompetent and ill prepared to ready kids to pass SKY's rigorous entrance exams. And much like Japan,
cram schools abound to prep kids for these exams. Education costs have been going up but Koreans have not been enjoying the seemingly "sky is the limit" growth in wages since the
Asian financial crisis of 1997. The Korean middle and upper middle classes have been
chomping at the bit as of late over these private education costs. This is translating into some sectors questioning whether this elite SKY
triumvirate, with its privileged access to cushy government jobs, should continue. Unlike Harvard et al, these
top flight and elitist universities receive the majority of their funding from the government. This begs the question should people enjoy privileged access on a publicly funded degree?