By Kang Shin-who
Staff Reporter

A group of professors at private colleges and universities initiated a campaign Monday calling for the government to instill a law requiring the chairmen and presidents of schools and their foundations to make public their private wealth.

Under the current law, presidents of state-run universities are required to make public their wealth, but those of private schools are exempted from the obligation.

The Korea Association of University Professors (KAUP) said Monday its members of 87 private universities are collecting signatures from citizens to support their campaign.

"We believe the wealth revelation of private university presidents and chairmen every year is necessary to root out corruption at private schools," they said in a statement.

It said disputes and problems involving private universities are normally linked to the corruption of school owners.

"Private universities account for 80 percent of the higher education institutes, therefore we need to verify the integrity and morality of their owners," it added.

Currently, a number of private universities including Sangji, Sejong and Chosun University are under fire for alleged corruption involving school owners.

The group plans to submit the signatures to the National Assembly and the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology by the end of the month.

It will also kick off a campaign to request private university heads to disclose the wealth of their families to the public.