By Bae Ji-sook
Staff Reporter
The recent fabrication of academic records by an elite 35-year-old arts professor has brought attention to other similar forgery cases committed in Korean society and its obsession with foreign pedigree.
Shin Jeong-ah, an assistant professor at Dongguk University on Thursday was revoked of her title as artistic director of the 2008 Gwangju Biennale festival. Shin, who claimed to have earned her bachelor's degree at the University of Kansas and doctorate at Yale University, was found to have forged her academic records.
Shin had said that she would return Friday and hold a press conference. She did not return from her European trip.
While her case became talk of town, the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency Friday detained 65 people without arrest for obtaining degrees from unauthorized American universities. Under domestic law, those who obtain doctorates from foreign universities must make a report to the government. The police said that the university in Guam, where they obtained their degrees, revealed that the students were not recognized by the (U.S.) Council for Higher Education Accreditation.
Two of the graduates are university professors who used the school's doctoral degrees when applying for their professorship. Another 26 are said to have gone to local renowned graduate schools using the bachelor's degree.
The school, American International University, received 1.5 million won per semester for undergraduates and 2.5 million won for a doctoral degree.
The professors receiving degrees, which exist only on paper, indicates that Korean society still heavily concentrates on one's academic career _ especially foreign university degrees _ as a measurement of one's ability.
Shin, who was once nicknamed ``Cinderella'' in art circles, was admired for achieving degrees in major U.S. universities and having reached several coveted major positions at the age of 35. Though she had lucrative contracts with the nation's top art galleries and conducted major exhibitions successfully, she used forged documents of the University of Kansas and Yale University to prove that she was worth hiring.
In fact, a mere 21.3 percent of professors in the art and music departments of Seoul National University, Yonsei University, Korea University, Ewha Womans University and Korean National University of Arts, carry degrees from domestic universities. The rest are from overseas _ mostly from the U.S.
A professor said that foreign diploma holders have advantages in professor recruitment. Another said that it is all about the names of American schools that count in the hiring rather than a candidate's major or profession.
``People in Korea are obsessed with the name values of schools in foreign countries, and domestic university graduates are always anxious to secure their privileges rather than opening their circles to others,'' Lee Gong-hun, a civic group leader said. His group is now holding campaigns to abolish the academic clique craze in this society.