Move to Adjust Law School Quota Provokes Protest
By Park Si-soo
Staff Reporter
The government's move to allocate another 100 students to the quota for law schools in Seoul has provoked criticism from the heads of local universities.
An education ministry official who refused to be named said Wednesday that the ministry and the presidential transition team had already reached an agreement to downsize the student quota for provincial law schools by 5 percent to 860 from the current 960, and to raise the number for law schools in Seoul to 1,140 from a current 1,040.
The government had so far stuck to its allocation of 1,040 students to Seoul law schools and 960 to provincial ones, citing balanced development.
Experts guessed some transition team members had spearheaded the decision in favor of schools in Seoul.
The heads of provincial universities showed strong opposition, saying differentiation in quotas for Seoul and local areas will further worsen the imbalance in the nation's development.
``We will not accept the decision if it's real. The reason of the ratio shift _ schools in Seoul are better overall, compared to those in local areas _ is also not convincing,'' Ko Choong-suk, president of Cheju National University, told The Korea Times. ``I've heard some universities in Seoul claimed that successful candidates should be selected based on open competitiveness rather than the theory of balanced national development. The policy on law schools should be made with respect to the nation's balanced development.''
Presidents of provincial universities plan to gather next week to come up with protest measures.
Kim Sang-young, dean of the school of law at Pusan National University, said the ministry's favoring law schools in Seoul would accelerate the centralization of legal manpower.
``Law schools are much more meaningful as they are. It could be one of the few outlets producing legal experts and influential opinion leaders in Korea,'' Kim said. ``If the student quota of law schools is concentrated in Seoul, most social resources including legal manpower that must be distributed nationwide will be concentrated in Seoul. It will be a huge loss for those living in Seoul and other areas in the long run,'' he added.
A total of 41 universities are vying to win the right to establish law schools. The government plans to announce some 25 successful candidates on Jan. 30 _ 13 schools in Seoul and the others elsewhere. The U.S.-style law school program will start in March 2009.