고등교육 재정지원의 원칙과 해법

Efforts have been made to provide a stable financial supply for higher education, such as the Higher Education Financial Grant Act, which has been proposed in the National Assembly several times for the purpose of ensuring the public nature of higher education and for balanced development. In relation to the method of securing higher education finance, the problems were examined, and a solution was considered to secure the finance for higher education stably and to improve the quality of higher education. Our Higher Education Act recognizes the primary responsibility of the establishment operator. In other words, in principle, the establishment operator is responsible for the establishment and operation of the university, but the state financial support should be supplemented. In this case, legitimacy can only be achieved when publicity, transparency, and accountability are secured as prerequisites for the input of financial support. However, before considering justification, the country's investment in higher education is significantly lower than that of OECD countries. While the national investment in higher education is greatly expanded, on the premise that the public nature of higher education is secured, fiscal investment should also be expanded in public and private universities. It seems undesirable to pass the Higher Education Financial Grant Bill, which is currently proposed by Representative Seo Dong-yong, as it is, as it does not fit the system of the fiscal adjustment system and does not match the principle of responsibility of the establishment operator. Therefore, it is necessary to revise it in consideration of the purpose of the fiscal adjustment system and the principle of responsibility of the establishment operator. The amended alternatives are as follows: Higher education financial grants (or local grant tax) are issued to regional governments in each of the eight regions, and each regional government sets the standard financial demand and standard financial income for universities located in the region. It is a method of preparing and calculating the amount and disbursing the difference as a grant. There may be several ways to raise the financial resources, such as preparing a new tax source such as a higher education tax, but since the local education financial grants in 2022 are rapidly increasing in conjunction with the total domestic tax, a certain part of the increase is invested in higher education In this case, the problem of raising financial resources can be solved through reallocation of financial resources without an increase in new tax sources. Although it is difficult to implement this part right now, I think that the problem of allocation of financial resources for local education financial grants and higher education financial grants and the problem of new financial resources need to be continuously discussed in the future. On the other hand, the current issue is the disappearance of local universities and local cities. It may become a risk factor for the national community. A paradigm shift for balanced national development must be urgently pursued. As one of the measures, it is necessary to make efforts for the balanced development of higher education and to secure a stable finance for higher education.