KU Faces Lawsuit Over Admission Policy
By Kang Shin-who
Staff Reporter
Education council members of cities and provinces nationwide plan to file a lawsuit against Korea University (KU) over the school's favoring of elite school students for admission.
The prestigious private university is suspected of grading its applicants according to their high schools.
Currently, universities are prohibited from ranking high schools for student recruitment. According to Rep. Kwon Young-ghil of the Labor Party, the university gave admission favoritism toward students from foreign language high schools, where middle school students from wealthy families seek superior education.
For example, students from normal high schools at the top of their classes were excluded, while an elite high school student who ranked in the 8th grade successfully passed the admission screening.
``If college admission is not transparent and doesn't value high school performance, high schools cannot operate properly. We will sue KU for the normalization of high school education,'' said 16 education council members in a statement.
The educators will request compensation through the suit for parents and students who were denied admission despite high academic scores. They will collect signatures from parents for legal action this month.
The Korean Council for University Education, which is responsible for supervising university admission, is looking into the accusation but has yet to take any action.
In the meantime, Ahn Byong-man, the nation's top educator, Wednesday, offered to speak with the council about college admission policy. During a meeting with the teachers' group, Education Minister Ahn said the government would review the freedom of universities in recruiting students.
He also hinted that the government might be involved in college admission policy again.
``It would be difficult for the council alone to set guidelines on college admission policy. The government should be held responsible if parents and students are confused,'' he said.