In 2014, the new semester has started now, and many students in Chungbuk National University(CBNU) want to listen to lectures. The enrollment basket program was introduced last year,  so students are more easily able to check their own schedules and the registering process also became simpler. After the registration, however, there have been quite a lot of students who received notifications that their lectures were canceled. What is the reason for canceling the lecture even though they paid their tuition to CBNU?
  In the first semester in 2014, 77 lectures were canceled, including 52 liberal arts courses and 25 major courses. 277 lectures were subject to cancelation due to the lack of students. The canceling standard is primarily determined by enrollees. If the enrollees are less than 30 in a liberal arts lecture and 15 in a major lecture, the lecture will be canceled. The enrollee standard was determined by factors such as the quality of the lecture, a lecturer’s fee, and the environment of a classroom. The enrollee standard is applied primarily to the canceling of classes. However, if the same grade students register for more than 1/3 capacity of a lecture or if the lecture is essential for graduation to one of the enrollees, the lecture is excluded from cancelation. Besides, CBNU considers the environment of the classroom and the type of the lecture to confirm the cancelation.
  However, one thing is very doubtful: why does CBNU cancel a lecture based on the number of students? The reason is an economic problem. The national universities receive their budget from the Ministry of Education(MOE). The CBNU Department of the University Register said that CBNU might get a penalty if they approve of a sub-standard lecture. They are very sensitive about money because the budget from the MOE is limited. In addition, one of the cancelation reasons is saving the lecturer’s fee. Now, we should pay attention to the irrationality of the lecturer’s fee. The MOE has currently determined to increase the national university lecturer’s fee to twice that of lecturers at private universities. Although CBNU pays twice as much for the lecturers’ fee, the MOE’s budget is still the same. If the MOE decided to raise the lectures’ fee twice, MOE’s budget for CBNU must be increased equally. That will be a justifiable action for everyone; however, the MOE hasn’t raised the budget yet. Consequently, CBNU has taken a very strict action to deal with the cancelations to avoid their budget deficit. In this situation, the victims are the students and lecturers. Despite the lecturers’ high educational degrees, in reality, they receive less than 30 million won a year. If the lecture is canceled due to the lack of budget, they suddenly lose their job. Behind the reality of the canceled lectures, there is sorrow from the lecturers and students who receive the damage from the insufficient budget plan of the MOE.  
  Then, what do professors and students think of the cancelation depending on the number of enrollees?
  Anonymous professor C said, “I understand CBNU’s situation; however, I want them to consider each department’s situation and not to obsess about the numerical standards. What is the difference between 14 enrollees and 16 enrollees in a major lecture? An in-depth discussion is needed at CBNU.”
  Anonymous professor L said, “I believe that substantial discussion will be needed about the lecturers’ reliable studies, teaching, and livelihood. They need the MOE’s fundamental support because I know the sorrow of the lecturer’s situation, living only with the minimum wage of living. In addition, the standard of canceling the lecture is very unfair for some departments which have a low capacity of students. It is reasonable to set the standard to less than some percentage of the capacity of the students and not to follow the 15 enrollee standard. I think it happened due to the conflict between academic freedom and economic problems. It is significant to find the root cause, and it is time to consider solving it wisely.”
  Anonymous student said, “It is true that the students’ right for learning has decreased. However, as a student who pays the tuition to CBNU, teaching lectures with very few enrollees is just a private lesson. I’m not denying the students’ right to listen to the lecture with very few other students, but few enrollees mean the evaluation of that lecture is boring. The real evaluation of the lecture is performed by the enrollees. Therefore, I want to change the lectures, create new lectures or delete the lectures, with students’ demands and opinions.”
  Therefore, CBNU has to discuss the problem to solve it and not to damage innocent students and lecturers.
 

By Park Ji-su

js34@cbnu.ac.kr