Clothing and Textiles Education in South Korea

Abstract

Clothing has been an important object to individuals, society, and culture throughout history. Clothing and textiles (C&T) in higher education in South Korea has gone through different stages as its educational goals and contents have responded to social needs. During the first era (1920s-1950s), C&T was taught along with other subjects as a part of home economics. During the second era (1960s-1980s), C&T became an independent academic discipline with its own identity. In the current era, when knowledge-based information is the central resource of society, C&T education is expected to change to meet the needs of industry, which mediates between society and academia. Globalization and information technology (IT) development in the information society affect the fashion industry, not only directly but also indirectly through the changes of consumers' diversified lifestyles. The fashion industry needs trained human resources from C&T, graduates who have global core competencies in specialized areas, can create high value, and implement IT technology for the industry. C&T education should set goals reflecting the needs of the fashion industry and take approaches seeking balance in vocational versus theoretical, specialized versus integrated, and basic versus applied knowledge.