[The Public = Daniel Park] Recently, a university in a provincial area has abruptly said that it will abolish four departments, causing controversy. In the morning, when classes at Wonkwang University are in full swing, students are campaigning against the abolition of the college department all over the campus.
Wonkwang University recently posted a plan on the school bulletin board to abolish four college department, including the Department of Philosophy and the Department of Semiconductor and Display.
Taemin Kim, president of Wonkwang University’s Department of Big Data and Financial Statistics, said, “Students are also in a state of anxiety and worry. The biggest problem seems to be the one-sided statement that the school will be closed without communication with the student council and professors.”
The biggest shock is the freshmen who have just entered the school. Kim Na-yeon, a freshman in Wonkwang University's Department of Chemistry, said, "If I had known about this kind of news, I would not have applied to the university.” she said.
A school official explained, "The decision to close school is a decision to prevent disadvantages in financial support, and we have been discussing it with faculty and staff since last year." The school plans to support students from closed departments so that they do not have any problems graduating, but the anxiety of current students is still there.
The merge and closure of colleges has become more prominent in recent years, and the decline in the school-age population is considered the most important cause.
The pain continues in the universities that have chosen to close the department. There is an opinion that measures such as adjusting the quota of universities flexibly and adjusting the quota in the metropolitan area to prevent excessive bleeding in rural areas should be prepared. Ultimately, there are many voices calling for financial support for universities.
Last year, Dongguk University Gyeongju Campus decided to abolish four majors: Big Data Applied Statistics, Korean Music, Biomedical Engineering, and Advanced Materials Chemistry. Recently, the Samcheok Dogye Campus of Kangwon National University also sparked a controversy by saying that it would abolish the Department of Early Childhood Education and the Department of Art at Shilla University.
The successive decisions to close universities stemmed from the decrease in the school-age population and the intense pressure to adjust the capacity of the university's basic competency diagnosis. Regarding the decision to close the school, Kim In-hong, director of Dongguk University's Gyeongju Campus, said, "The university's existence is in crisis due to the decrease in the number of admissions. There were also policy changes from the Ministry of Education. It adopted autonomy for each university and market logic in reducing quota. In 2021, 78% of universities in the Yeonghonam area actually fell short.”
Silla University is also considering a plan to reduce the freshman quota by 15% compared to last year, as it only secured 79.8% of the admission quota in last year's entrance exam. Kangwon National University's Department of Early Childhood Education suffered a 65% decrease in the number of admissions over the past five years. In addition, Gangneung Yeongdong University is pursuing restructuring of the five departments that have not reached 60% of the average freshman enrollment rate for two years.
This year's University Basic Competency Diagnosis is encouraging universities to voluntarily reduce the number of admissions by assigning a high score to the freshman recruitment rate index. In this evaluation, only the performance of the three universities from 2018 to 2020 is reflected. Universities believe that the freshman enrollment rate will continue to be used as a key indicator in the government's university evaluation in the future. This is the reason why it seems that there will be more cases of abolishment of departments for the purpose of adjusting the quota in the future.
Kim Min-su, president of the National Association of University Admissions Directors (Chairman of Admissions at Catholic Kwandong University) said, “The admission rate occupies a very important position in this evaluation, and the school-age population continues to decline. In order to prepare for this, the restructuring of universities will inevitably continue after this evaluation.”
[Image by Yonhap News]
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