There are 4 Poorly Managed Universities in Chungbuk
On September 5th, the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology(MEST) and a committee in charge of streamlining universities announced a list of poorly managed universities. There are 200 universities and 146 colleges in Korea. 43 universities and colleges were selected as poorly managed universities which will have to be restructured, and some may be shut down. MEST and a committee in charge of restructuring universities selected poorly managed universities by their employment rates(20%), student recruitment rates(35%), full-time teacher securement rates(5%), academic affair management(5%), low income students financial aid to student(15%) and fiscal health(20%) standards. The listed universities will be banned from getting funds from the government and will be restricted from taking local government support from next year. Moreover, 17 of the 43 failing universities will be prevented from giving freshmen loans.
Sewon University, Youngdong University, Far East University and Juseong College were selected as the poorly managed universities in the Chungbuk region. Sewon University student Kim Cheor-Hwan(Dept. of Geography Education) said, " I saw the news that my school was selected as a poorly managed university. Distrust between professors and students deepened." In an internet community site, the Youngdong University student said, "I have thought that Korea has too many universities, so university restructuring is needed. But I could not imagine that my university was selected." He expressed embarrassment.
The universities have a strong dissatisfaction about the government announcement. A Youngdong University official said, "Evaluation indexes and procedures, which are proposed by the government, have problems." The Youngdong University faculty announced a statement that the government`s poorly managed university selection was unfair. They also announced that : If there are students who suffer some disadvantages from this policy, the university will take responsibility for the student loans.
Sewon University released a statement in response to the government`s announcement. Sewon University is going to expand its scholarship program in second semester by providing 1.8 billion won to students.
In response to the universities' complaints, Hong Seung-yong, chair of the ministry¡¯s Panel on University restructuring insisted, "We made this information public to help the high school students` choices. The key point of this policy is providing tax money to healthy universities. Universities in Korea should be changed."