Presidents of universities in Busan, Ulsan, Gyeongnam, and Jeju met and held a conference on September 19th at CWNU to discuss university matters, including the increase of tuition fees.

Lee Chan Gyu, president of CWNU, chairman of the conference and president of Dong-A University Gwon O Chang, lawmaker Shin Seong bum, and 26 other university presidents participated in the conference.

The most important issue of the conference was college structural regulating. The Department of Education published that in 2023, universities will face student shortages of up to 160,000 students. To prevent confusion, the department presented its plan to decrease the student quota of universities by evaluating college performances.

Presidents at the conference agreed that the evaluation plan and bill should consider each college’s unique attributes, so as to enhance the quality of education and prepare for the time when student numbers will decline.

A university authority stated that, “structural reform must take into account not only the way to adjust to a decrease in numbers, but how to improve the level of teaching”. He also stated that, “universities require a balanced restructure which reflects the characteristics of local industries in both pure and practical studies.”

One president stressed that evaluation should vary according to size. He said, “There are universities that have less than 1,000 students. On the other side, there are universities that have more than 3,000. If the assessment does not consider these differences, small colleges are going to be hurt.”

Many complaints were voiced regarding the government’s CK-1 project, and the merger and abolition of majors. One president said, “There are three or four specialized majors at most. They are too deficient to aid the whole university. In addition, integration of the majors is difficult and not effective.”

The presidents also discussed the tuition cap. They agreed that it is virtually impossible to increase tuition fees because the Department of Education provides universities with decreased tuitions with education support projects. They also said it is necessary to guarantee autonomy when deciding tuition fees for the local universities in order to reduce the disparity of educational levels between local universities and Seoul’s universities. The tuition cap allows a university to raise its tuition up to 1.5 times the average rate of consumer prices in the last three years.

Among the university presidents, fees for school support organizations were a topic of conversation. The fee is a part of national university tuitions according to laws established in 1963. Because the school fee is returned to the public, national universities have used the fees for its own budget. However, it is undecided whether the personal use of these fees is ethically correct.

The university presidents agreed that legal support is needed in advance in case it is ruled that universities have to pay back the money. A president claimed that, “The worst case scenario is that it is judged wrong. National universities then do not have the freedom to make their own plans. They will have to rely on the support of the country.”

In addition, the presidents said that they are communicating with the Education Department to ensure a big enough budget to provide expanded benefits for part-time professors.

Cho Uk-rae  -

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