By Bae Ji-sook
Staff Reporter
The prosecution is investigating 20 professors who allegedly obtained their doctoral degrees from foreign unaccredited universities and used those records to get their jobs.
The Korean Research Foundation submitted a list of 100 people who got their doctoral degrees from foreign unaccredited higher educational institutes since 2003 to the Seoul Central Prosecutors' Office. Based on this, the prosecution tracked down their careers and found 20 of them working for universities in Korea.
It is now questioning university officials whether this is a reflection on the hiring process. The names of the 20 may be revealed, which is expected to damage the reputation of the education field now voluntarily searching for graduates of diploma mills.
Meanwhile, the prosecution indicted Kim Ock-rang, the head of Dongsoong Art Center and professor at Dankook University's art management department, without detention Tuesday.
She obtained a master's and a doctor's degree in art at Sungkyunkwan University with her bachelor's degree from Pacific Western University, which was an unaccredited institute in the U.S. She also used the degree to apply for the university professorship.
An unaccredited institute of higher learning is a school not approved by the state government as a legal academic institute. Such schools are operated under business licenses only, or black-listed for offering a curriculum deemed inadequate, but issue degrees or use deceptive advertising about their institutions.
Kim reportedly admitted all the allegations saying she had no chance to study because she was married young, and she needed a diploma to start her career. The prosecution found Kim had donated tens of millions of won to Dankook University, Sungkyunkwan University and many others, but said they were not kickbacks for her professorship.
Kim is one of many prominent figures in society who are, or will be, under the prosecution's investigation over diploma forgery. Art curator Shin Jeong-ah who was dismissed from Dongguk University, renowned architect Lee Chang-ha who also quit teaching at a college and actress Jang Mi-hee who allegedly faked her diploma from Dongguk University to teach at Myongji University, are those who are allegedly among the prosecution's