Should academic info be excluded in the hiring process? Proposed bill sparks debate.

Job seekers attend a job fair in Busan on Nov. 10, 2025 [YONHAP]

 
Should employers be legally barred from asking job applicants where they went to school?
 
The question has resurfaced in Korea as lawmakers and civic groups push to expand fair hiring rules, saying that recruitment centered on academic background is deepening people’s reliance on private education and widening social gaps. But previous attempts for the same cause suggest the effects may be more complicated.
 

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The debate was reignited last September after Rep. Kang Deuk-gu of the ruling Democratic Party proposed a bill that would prohibit employers from asking applicants about their education level, alma mater or religion. The bill remains pending before the National Assembly’s Climate, Energy, Environment and Labor Committee. 
 
On Jan. 20, more than 300 civic and education groups held a press conference at the National Assembly, urging lawmakers to swiftly pass an amendment to the Framework Act on Employment Policy.
 
Employers are currently barred from requesting information about a candidate’s appearance, place of origin, marital status or assets. Article 7 of the law reads, “In recruiting and employing workers, business owners shall not discriminate against them on grounds of gender, religion, age, [...] level of education, educational background, marriage, pregnancy, medical history, etc. [...] without reasonable grounds and shall guarantee equal opportunities for employment.”
 
The proposed revision would add academic background and religious affiliation to that list, marking the most sweeping expansion of hiring restrictions in years.
 
The push comes amid growing concern over Korea’s education arms race. Admission to the country’s most elite universities — known collectively as “SKY” for Seoul National University, Korea University and Yonsei University — is widely seen as a prerequisite for professional success. That perception has helped drive private education spending to record levels. In 2024, households spent 29 trillion won ($20 billion) on private tutoring and academies, the fourth consecutive annual increase and the highest total on record.
 

People walk past private academies in Mok-dong, Yangcheon District, western Seoul, on June 2, 2025. [NEWS1]

 
Supporters of the bill say that limiting the importance of academic credentials in hiring may help weaken the link between educational opportunities and career outcomes. Critics counter that removing academic information from the hiring process may lead to employers misjudging employees’ capabilities and do little to reduce the concentration of graduates from elite universities in the workforce. 
 
From blind recruitment to legal mandate
 
Korea has already experimented with restricting academic information through so-called blind recruitment. Beginning in 2017 under the Moon Jae-in administration, public institutions were instructed not to ask for photos, family backgrounds and academic credentials from prospects and instead rely on job-related tests and interviews.
 
The reform, however, largely remains confined to the public sector. The proposed bill would transform what has so far been a policy guideline into a legal obligation and extend it to private companies as well.
 

Democratic Party Rep. Kang Deuk-gu speaks at a press conference on a bill aimed at preventing academic discrimination in the hiring process at the National Assembly in Yeouido, western Seoul, on Jan. 20. [NEWS1]

 
The results of blind recruitment offer mixed signals. After the policy was introduced, the range of universities represented among successful applicants to public institutions widened. Among hires at 223 public institutions and state-owned enterprises, the share of graduates from SKY fell from 8 percent in 2016 to 5.3 percent in 2019. The proportion of hires from nonmetropolitan universities rose from 43.7 percent to 53.1 percent, and the share of women increased from 34 percent to 39 percent.
 
At the same time, analysts caution that these shifts cannot be attributed solely to blind recruitment since regional hiring quotas and other measures were introduced alongside the policy, making it difficult to isolate its effects.
 
A 2023 study by the Korea Research Institute for Vocational Education and Training found that the influence of academic background on public sector employment declined immediately after the policy’s introduction but later fluctuated without a sustained downward trend. The researchers suggested that while overt discrimination decreased, employers gradually turned to indirect methods of inferring applicants’ characteristics, which weakened the policy’s impact over time.
 
Public opinion appears to favor the proposed amendment. In a survey on 1,003 adults from Sept. 20 to 21, 2024 — conducted by the pollster Realmeter and commissioned by the nonprofit Spring of Education and Rep. Kang’s office — 74.7 percent of respondents said discrimination based on academic background was a serious problem. About 85.2 percent agreed that academic background affects hiring decisions, while 62.8 percent said a law is needed to penalize companies that discriminate based on an applicant’s alma mater or education level.
 
Education Minister Choi Kyo-jin has voiced support for the amendment, saying it could ease the excessively competitive nature of entrance exams and help restore trust in a society in which individuals are judged by their abilities and efforts rather than pedigree.
 

Public survey on academic discrimination [LEE JEONG-MIN]

 
What fair hiring means in practice
 
Critics of the bill argue that the amendment rests on a flawed assumption: that a school’s reputation and an individual’s competence can be neatly separated.
 
“Universities in Korea select students strictly based on ability,” said Park Nam-gi, a professor emeritus at Gwangju National University of Education. “They educate them with top-tier faculty and programs. If you select [an employee] based on merit, elite university graduates will naturally dominate.”
 
He likened blind recruitment to removing brand labels from smartphones and asking consumers to choose the best product without knowing who made it.
 
Recruiters say academic background is rarely the top hiring criterion; rather, it functions as a practical filter.
 
“School background isn’t our top priority, but we do look at it,” said a human resources manager at a consumer goods company. “For entry-level hires without clear work experience, there are limited indicators [of their abilities]. In those cases, academic background becomes a reference point.”
 
The manager added that while job fit and company culture matter most, school names often serve as a convenient screening tool when narrowing large applicant pools.
 
Removing that information entirely, the recruiter said, would require companies to redesign interview formats and develop more tailored ways to assess core skills.
 
A hiring manager in the entertainment industry echoed that view, saying education can signal diligence and consistency and is typically considered alongside experience.
 
The practicality of the proposal
 
Some companies have already moved in this direction voluntarily. According to an analysis by Spring of Education released last July, 46 of Korea’s 160 largest conglomerates — or 28.8 percent — have formal rules banning discrimination based on academic background or have explicitly adopted blind recruitment. 
 
That figure represents an increase of 5.4 percentage points from the previous year. The companies span multiple industries and include Industrial Bank of Korea, LG Electronics and Samsung Fire and Marine Insurance.
 
Still, opponents argue the bill risks unduly restricting corporate autonomy.
 
“Companies are already capable of choosing people who fit their organization,” Prof. Park said, adding that businesses won't be able to function without the right people.
 

Job seekers fill out applications at an employment fair in Busan on Nov. 10, 2025. [YONHAP]

 
Online critics concur with Prof. Park’s opinion, arguing that firms already rely on internal assessments rather than school names. 
 
“Companies don’t need university labels to identify the right candidates,” one commenter wrote on an academic information-sharing forum. “They’re not academic institutions. They’re hiring people who can work well with others and perform the job.”
 
A hiring manager in the media industry said her company relies heavily on proprietary tests to evaluate applicants, through which she can “gauge their capabilities and fit very clearly.”
 

Visitors explore booths at an AI talent festival at Dongdaemun Design Plaza in Jung District, central Seoul, on Dec. 2, 2025. [YONHAP]

 
Prof. Park also questioned whether the proposed bill would work in certain fields, such as research-intensive industries, in which academic training is closely tied to institutional background. In such cases, he said, employers would likely infer applicants’ universities based on their research history and prior education, even if school names are formally excluded.
 
Rather than banning academic information outright, Prof. Park suggested limiting representation. One alternative, he said, would be to cap the share of successful candidates from any single university — for example, at 5 percent.
 
“If you want to protect people who didn’t attend top universities,” he said, “you have to protect their share explicitly.”

BY CHO JUNG-WOO [cho.jungwoo1@joongang.co.kr]