Questions/Answers

[Development of Individual Competencies and Production of Skilled Workforce through the Operation of Nation-led Qualification System] HRD Korea has performed the role of the central and core organization of national qualification test since 1982 in accordance with the “National Technical Qualifications Act.” Through the constant improvements in qualification system and service innovation centered on test takers for 35 years, it is providing public service for the establishment of evaluation system that is suitable for the industrial site and national human resources development. Currently, it is operating and managing 482 national technical qualification items and 37 national professional qualification items. [“Q-Net(www.q-net.or.kr)", Korea’s Representative Qualification Portal] Q-Net, an internet qualification portal website, was established in 2008 to provide innovative qualification service centered on test takers, and provides online one-stop services so that you can complete the entire process, from submitting applications to obtaining licenses, without having to visit the organization in person, and through it, seamless public service is being implemented by improving the related systems and information accessibility so that citizens can use the functions and information provided by Q-Net more easily and conveniently. - 62 million visitors to Q-Net website annually - 3.7 million people taking tests annually - Operation and management of information on 15 million qualification acquisitions based on number of qualification acquisitions, etc.

HRD Korea is operating national qualification examination system to develop abilities of the citizens, produce quality technical and professional workforce, and through it, realize fair meritocratic society. It provides diverse methods so that any citizens can easily access their desired qualification information to obtain licenses, through innovative work improvements such as provision of online one-stop service throughout the whole process, revitalizing the business participation by the civil society and enhancement of opinion gathering through various communication windows, and guarantee of rights to know and improvements to the information access through the disclosure of information. Furthermore, it enables the national qualification system to be fair and trustworthy through the enhancement of responsibility and continuous monitoring.

[Economic Growth and Increase in Quality Jobs] National Qualification System of Korea has improved vocational competencies of the citizens through the development and implementation of qualification items that are suitable for the industrial sites, induced increase in productivity and development of new technologies by the companies, and these, in turn, developed into virtuous cycle of expanding economic scale to contribute to the creation of quality jobs. [Establishment of Social Infrastructure, Industrialization, and Enhancement of Innovation] Operation of nation-led qualification system played a key role in producing human resources to prepare for the rapid economic and social environmental changes, solidifying the foundation for the industrialization in the 1970s – 1980s, and Korea growing to world’s top 10 economic powerhouse.

[Preparation of Public Service Policies through the Gathering of Opinions from Interested Parties] Through connections with relevant governmental organizations, important policies needed in the national qualification system are being implemented by reflecting social and industrial structure changes and the service demands by the citizens. To establish national qualification system development policy, opinions are collected from related professionals and interested parties to continuously monitor the fairness of the qualification test, efficiency in implementation, and practical applicability, and mid- to long-term developmental plans are established through the National Technical Qualification System Development Committee. By conducting satisfaction surveys on interested parties, including test takers, it is making efforts to prepare the system and discover new services that meet the citizens’ demands. [Improvements to Service Accessibility through Q-Net] Various functions and conveniences are continuously improved and provided through Q-Net, and efforts are continuously being made to resolve information gap for information-disadvantaged classes, such as the disabled and the elderly, as well. Furthermore, collaboration between public and private institutions is being strengthened to spread utilization of qualification information and improve the rights and benefits of those who obtained national technical qualifications. An external information utilization platform needed to improve the qualification system and expand the services has been built through the establishment and operation of information-connected networks between relevant organizations.

[A Unique Nation-led Systematic and Inclusive Qualification System] National qualification system is a fair and transparent systematic qualification examination system. In particular, extra time is given, examination paper is improved, and multi-lingual examination paper is provided during the test for the disabled, elderly, and migrant residents (multi-cultural) so that anyone can obtain licenses without discrimination. [No Visit, One-STOP Service Q-Net!] The entire process of qualification test service could be conducted online, and as a result anyone can obtain licenses without having to visit in person. Additionally, UI was prepared for the convenience of users including the disabled, elderly, and the weak class, and all qualification information big data were analyzed to build a personalized service for each individual.

For the fair and transparent nationally recognized qualification test system, the national qualification system, unlike other countries, is managed and operated by a public institution HRD Korea for all of the processes including generating test questions-conducting tests-qualification management. Currently, Korea’s qualification system has been recognized by the world for its excellence, and being transferred to numerous developing countries in Southeast Asia and South America, which need industrialization, under the method of official assistance to become the target of brand exportation and benchmarking.

[Support for Developing Countries through the ODA] Korea’s qualification system has been recognized for its excellence by developing countries, and has been providing the qualification system for free to Kazakhstan, Cambodia, Vietnam, and other countries through the ODA (Official Development Assistance) (about KRW 2.6 billion) since 2007, and through mutual qualification recognition with countries such as Japan and Thailand, the system is being spread globally. [Q-Net to the World through Modularization!] By modularizing the entire process, from receiving applications to issuing licenses, Q-Net exportation model is systemized so that customized support suited to the system and information infrastructure level of the country concerned is possible regardless of country and environment.

-Finance: Every year, a budget of KRW 123.2 billion is being invested. -Human Resources: 21 teams are being operated at the headquarters and 39 teams at affiliated organizations to supervise national qualification examination system. There are about 600 staffs solely dedicated to this purpose as well as 520,000 external experts annually participating in generating exam questions and conducting tests. Additionally, an IT organization is being operated and separate external experts have been allocated to operate and manage it permanently. -Material Resources: Q-Net website, QIS (Qualification Examination Information System), and exam question banking system are being organically operated, and 260 hardware equipment including servers, 600 packages of software, and nationwide networks are being operated.

To survive in the global competition system, and in the fierce competition of the Era of the 4th Industrial Revolution, in particular, countries and companies are making efforts to secure human resources. It is expected that the demand for new technologies and highly-skilled talented individuals will increase even more as the industrial structure is rapidly changing due to the technological development. The national qualification system needs to be continuously improved and developed to produce talented people needed by the companies or the society and to manage human resources at the national level. As such, national qualification system is the most needed national human resources development policy to respond to the new industrial demands in the rapidly changing global economic environment. Furthermore, the information on qualification acquisitors is the key information in creating jobs, to be recognized of its value and importance. The national qualification acquisitor information managed by the Q-Net has been designated as National Reference Data in 2018, and in the future the consistency, standardization, and utilization will be strengthened even more through the management system at the national level. To improve career competencies of the citizens and continuously make developments in the economic and industrial fields, HRD Korea will implement innovative improvements through the interests in policies and investments of human and material resources.

Yes

[Project Evaluation Supervised by the Governmental Ministries] Currently receiving government management performance evaluation supervised by the Ministry of Strategy and Finance(MOSF) to evaluate every year on how reasonably and appropriately the public institutions are performing the projects, and also integrated evaluation of fiscal projects to evaluate. [Quality Evaluation on the Project(by the Governmental Ministries)] Currently receiving Statistical Quality Diagnosis on the national technical qualification statistics from the Statistics Korea, web accessibility* quality from the Ministry of Science and ICT(MSIT), and data quality supervised by the Korea Data Agency. * The disabled and the aged are accessing and using the information provided at the website in the equal manner as the non-disabled [Evaluation on Satisfaction of the Project]

[Project Evaluation Supervised by the Governmental Ministries] The following are used as indicators: national qualification acquisition rate , employment rate of the national qualification acquisitors, appropriateness of performance management on national qualification operation businesses, online application rate of the national qualification examination, satisfaction level of the information provision service, etc. [Quality Evaluation on the Project] When evaluating the quality of the projects on national technical qualifications, national technical qualification statistics, quality of web accessibility (degree of information accessibility for the disabled and the elderly), and data quality of national qualifications are used as indicators. [Evaluation on Satisfaction of the Project] Quality satisfaction of the information system service and information system are evaluated using indicators.

[Project Evaluation Supervised by the Governmental Ministries] Through an innovative improvements in service, it has been recognized for its accomplishments by receiving awards as follows: Excellence Award(Minister’s Award) at the Korea e-Government Award; and Excellence Award(Prime Minister’s Award) at the Best Practice of Active Administration supervised by the Ministry of Personnel Management of Korea in 2017; and was selected as follows: outstanding organization at the Government 3.0 Evaluation of Public Institutions’ Managerial Performance in 2016(Minister of the Interior Award); and Excellent Collaborative Project supervised by the Ministry of Strategy and Finance in 2016. [Quality Evaluation of the Project] It was selected as outstanding organization in statistics quality for 3 years in a row as a result of self-assessment of quality evaluation by the Statistics Korea (KOSTAT), and has been recognized for its achievements by obtaining the following: excellence award at the Korea Mobile Award (Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning); Good Content Service Certification (Korea Data Agency); Platinum Class (Highest Class) in the Qualification Information Data Quality Certification (DQC-V) field; and Level 3 (Highest Level) in Data Security Certification (DQC-S) field. [Evaluation on Satisfaction of the Project] Quality satisfaction evaluation on the information system is continuously increasing(’16(83.8), ‘17(84.1), ’18(84.3)).

Basic plan for the development of national technical qualification system is being established and implemented, which includes mid- to long-term policy directions and major projects of the national technical qualifications reflecting the changes in labor market such as when designing the qualification system and the 4th industrial revolution. To achieve this, a draft of basic plan is prepared by gathering opinions from the site such as from qualification acquisitors, ISC, relevant organizations such as KRIVET, national Employment Policy Advisory Committee, and experts in the academic world, and then is finalized after gathering opinions from competent ministries for each qualification, deliberation by the National Technical Qualification Policy Council, and report to the State Council. To establish qualification operation system, information exchanges and fruitful operation is being supported through the regularization of conference between the 8 examination consignees centered on HRD Korea. Additionally, in order to strengthen consultations and connections between the ministries to enhance the interests and responsibilities of the ministries in charge of qualification items, Specialized Committee for the Development of National Technical Qualification System is held at least once annually, to discuss major issues such as newly installing and reorganizing national technical qualifications and share information. Furthermore, when improving or modifying the major systems of national technical qualifications, improvements are made after gathering sufficient opinions in advance through survey questionnaire conducted against the customers.

The national qualification examination system needs innovation to become a qualification system that can verify new technologies and knowledge to actively reflect customers’ needs and prepare for changes in industrial structure such as the 4th industrial revolution, and the qualification system also needs to make ceaseless changes required by the times. Therefore, HRD Korea will make all efforts to strengthen site-centered HRD infrastructure needed at the industrial sites and continuously implement talent development project to lead the times by discovering and newly installing qualification items in prominent fields for the future needed in the Era of the 4th Industrial Revolution. Furthermore, by preparing a qualification system that can include socially-disadvantaged classes, responsible national qualification examination public services will be provided to continuously.