Structural characteristics of undergraduate subject major curriculum in Korea

Abstract

This study explored structural characteristics of undergraduate curriculum focusing on subject major. To analyze structural characteristics of undergraduate curriculum, we collected data from program of study and course syllabus, and checked with scholars in each disciplines that we selected for this study. For this study, we selected four disciplines from five universities, that represent each of humanities, social sciences, natural sciences, and engineering. Compared to liberal arts courses, through the analysis, we found that disciplinary subject-related courses have strong influences on undergraduate curriculum. In addition, subject-related courses are mainly consisted of intensive subject-related topics. As a result, the integrations with other disciplines and the link with social demand were relatively less represented in undergraduate curriculum. Further, each course did not link each other according to the sequence of each subject. These structural characteristics were not different across four disciplines chosen for this study. Therefore, we concluded that disciplinary subject knowledge dominates undergraduate curriculum in Korea.