Admissions Officers to Pick 10,000 Students
By Kang Shin-who
Staff Reporter
JEJU ㅡ Test scores have long been critical for most Korean universities in picking students, but now, a growing number of universities are moving to select students through ``admissions officers,'' who are fully committed to evaluating applicants based on their potential and extra-curricular activities rather than mere academic scores.
About 40 universities will recruit more than 10,000 students next year through admissions officers ㅡ currently, numbering around 200.
Parents have started to question the fairness of the new admission system, which gives test scores less value, and many are curious about how the officers can determine the potential and talents of students. In efforts to offer a more substantial picture of the system, admissions professionals from 21 universities nationwide gathered here for a conference to present students who successfully impressed them and share their know-how.
Organized by the Korean Council for University Education (KCUE) at KAL Hotel in Seogwipo City, the conference took place from Friday and Saturday, with some 350 college professors and administrators. The meeting showed that most admissions officers value personalities, recommendations by teachers and reputations among college hopefuls' peers. Also they focus on extra-curricular activities.
The KCUE, responsible for university admission policy, will come up with common criteria for the system in order to help parents and students better understand and prepare for admission.
They provided some exemplary cases for the standards for picking students. Byeon Soo-yeon, an admissions officer of Handong Global University in Pohang, said the university admitted a student with hearing difficulties and rather poorer academic scores, because the student has been involved in many activities despite his disability.
Pusan National University said it accepted a student who failed to meet minimum test scores but had won some 50 prizes in science-related contests. Dongguk University also granted admission to a student who had already written 15 fantasy stories.
The Ministry of Education, Science and Technology began subsidizing 10 universities in their recruitment of admissions officers, with two billion won in 2007, and has allocated 23.6 billion won to help universities adopt the new system this year. The budget has risen more than tenfold since then. A university can receive a maximum of three billion won from the support plan.
In addition, the ministry will select five universities for educating and training admissions officials in order to secure fairness in the admission system. Selected universities will receive 1.5 billion won and offer three-month courses for admissions professionals.