Students victimized by endless changes in college admissions
Current students between grade nine to 12 in the country need to adapt to a different college admissions process. Graphics by Cho Sang-won
By Kim Hyun-bin
Korea's education policies drastically change each time a new government takes over. Once the new administration announces a set of education policies, the past administrations' efforts are discarded. Among them, college admission issues have been in the center of attention as the public is most affected, even by a slight change.
Some experts point out the most crucial change is happening as we speak as students between grades nine to 12 in the country need to adapt to a different college admissions process.
The current high school seniors who will enroll in the college class of 2019, will go ahead with the past administration's policy, which aims to increase non-scheduled admissions while reducing regular ones.
On the other hand, 11th graders will have to take an opposite approach. Earlier this year, the Ministry of Education pressured key colleges to increase regular admissions instead of non-scheduled ones starting next year and most have followed suit.?The move has created major confusion for parents and students.
However, the most drastic changes will affect ninth graders as a major college admissions reform is in the works, which is expected to be completed by August.
Thirty-five people consisting of educational experts, public opinion committee members and related professionals held a two day workshop starting Sunday and came up with several models for the 2022 college admissions reform.
Among the five models that were revealed Wednesday, the public will be responsible in selecting the final one.
The Presidential Committee on National Education (PCNE) will select 400 non-experts to take part in a group to discuss the selected reforms. After conducting several surveys and gathering opinions, the final recommendation will be made by late July.
The group will?take into consideration televised debates, public hearings and online and?offline opinions before making a final decision.
After the PCNE reviews the proposal it will be submitted to the education ministry for final approval. The decision is expected to be made in early August.
Decrease in non-scheduled admissions
The 15 universities in the capital _ often called “In Seoul” _ will decrease their number of non-scheduled admissions.
For the 2019 college admissions 71.8 percent will enter college through non-scheduled admissions, but that number will slightly decrease to 69.5 percent by 2020.
Only Konkook, Sookmyung Women's and Hongik universities are expected to slightly increase, while the rest have maintained or will decrease non-scheduled admissions.
Sogang and Sungkyunkwan universities plan to drastically decrease non-scheduled admissions. Sogang plans to drop from 79.8 percent to 70 percent, while Sungkyunkwan will drop from 79 percent to 66.6 percent by 2020.
University presidents against gov't admissions regulations
Ten out of seven private university presidents have voiced their opposition to the 2022 college admissions reform according to a survey conducted by Chosun Edu. They believe universities need to be in charge of setting the ratio of regular and non-scheduled admissions.
Out of 153 private college presidents in the nation, 89 took part in the survey and 62 of them (69.7 percent) said it was best if the issue was left for each university to decide.
They pointed out that it is nearly impossible to go against the education ministry as they receive a substantial portion of their financing from the ministry.
“This is the main reason universities cannot disregard the admissions ratio set by the ministry,” said Jung a private university president.
“There have been 12 presidents since the Korean government was established, but the college admissions policies have changed 14 times. The political prejudice in education policies is only affecting parents and students. We need to work to remove public distrust in education and focus more on finding means to better foster future talent.”