Korea's software education initiative

Abstract

In 2015, the Korean government launched a major software education initiative. The urgency to rally the nation around the 4th Industrial Revolution is the driving force. It consists of two major components. One is to enhance software (computer science) education in universities, and another is to make coding education mandatory in elementary and middle schools. The Korean Ministry of Science and ICT (MSIT) launched National Programs of Excellence in Software to innovate and expand software education in universities. The Ministry of Education, in collaboration with the MSIT, has required all middle schools and elementary schools to include mandatory coding courses, starting in 2018 and 2019, respectively, and started training teachers. In this article, we will discuss the background of the MSIT software initiative, and software education innovation by the Gachon University National Program of Excellence in Software. We will also briefly discuss the looming mandatory coding education in middle and elementary schools. © 2017 Association for Computing Machinery.