Admissions officer system under siege

Sungkyunkwan University in turmoil over admission fraud

By Na Jeong-ju

The admissions officer system, an integral part of the Lee Myung-bak administration’s educational reforms, is being called into question following the disclosure of a deception and fraud case involving a Sungkyunkwan University student.

The education ministry is facing growing calls from the public to revise the system. Some civic groups even urge the ministry to discard it, alleging that many students are turning to irregular methods to gain admission to their preferred colleges.

The school stated last week that one of its students admitted on the recommendation of its admissions officer confessed to having engaged in a sexual assault against a mentally-challenged girl in 2010.

As a high school student in Daejeon, he raped the girl, who was 13, in a men’s toilet along with his friends. He met her on an Internet chat site.

He was later arrested, and admitted to the crime, but the court placed him on probation last year in consideration of his age, appeals from parents and teachers and a settlement with the victim’s family.

The student, whose identity has been withheld, concealed his criminal record when he applied for the university. In a recommendation letter, written by his teacher and presented to an admissions officer from Sungkyunkwan, he was described as a “king of volunteers” with excellent leadership.

He said in an application letter that he had engaged in after-school community services for a long time.

As a result, he was selected by the admissions officer and gained admission to the school early this year.

The school launched an investigation into the student’s past last month after receiving a complaint from a Daejeon-based civic group. Some activists wrote about his story on websites, triggering public criticism of him as well as the school.

“We will soon decide on whether to expel the student. We are also looking into the alleged involvement of his teacher and parents in deceiving our admissions officer,” a school official said.

Loopholes in system

The university itself came under heavy fire for poorly checking the qualifications of the applicant. The question is: Is he the only student who deceived the school to gain admission?

The admissions officer system, initiated in 2008, is one of the Lee administration’s bold measures to reshape the test-oriented college entrance process.

Most Korean universities previously picked students based on scores from the annual College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT), prompting students to rely heavily on private tutoring to get good CSAT scores in order to gain admission to their preferred schools.

However, under the new system, admissions officers evaluate applicants based on their potential and extra-curricular activities as well as recommendations from principals and teachers as well as academic scores. This selection process, based on various criteria, is designed to help students better adapt to their universities.

Analysts, however, say the system is being misused by teachers and parents because the number of admissions officers hired by colleges is too small to check all the data from applicants.

“You can easily download recommendations and application letters from websites,” said Chang Eun-sook, head of a parent’s group in Seoul. “There are brokers who are selling the knowhow on how to enter colleges through admissions officers. There are loopholes in the system.”

Chang said a university has only four admissions officers on average, so they are unable to check the qualification of applicants thoroughly.

“They receive certificates of academic achievement and school records from thousands of applicants. They can only check them for a limited period of time,” she said. “A thorough inspection is almost impossible.”

In Sungkyunkwan, an admissions officer handled over 490 applicants last year.

The job conditions of admissions officers are also unstable.

Most universities hire them as non-regular employees because their salaries and benefits are subsidized by the government.

“Most admissions officers must renew their contracts every two years. They are low-paid, and work under poor conditions,” said a ministry official on condition of anonymity. “We are working with universities to enhance their job status and working conditions, but that’s difficult due to financial shortages.”

Kim An-nah, a professor at Ewha Woman’s University, said most colleges don’t have a proper screening system for applicants.

“There could be some applicants who deceive admissions officers. Schools should conduct thorough interviews to disqualify such applicants,” said Kim. “Schools have their own screening system, but it is not perfect. Interviews are just a formality in most colleges.”

The education ministry said it will take measures to overcome such shortcomings.

“Under the CSAT-based admissions system, many university students experienced difficulties discovering their true talents or preparing for the job market while in school. Even worse, many of them were left jobless after graduation,” the ministry official said.

“It is true that the system is costly, and experiencing some ups and down. However, when students are selected on the basis of abilities and talents, the future benefit to the universities outweighs the cost of the selection process.”

According to the ministry, the number of students recruited by admissions officers was 254 in 2008, but it will rise to some 41,000 this year. This represents about 10.8 percent of the total college admission quota.

In 2008, only 10 universities chose students through the system, but it is now being used by over 120. Thus, the amount of government subsidies has steadily increased. The subsidy for the system was 15.7 billion won in 2008, but increased to 35 billion in 2010, 35.1 billion in 2011 and will exceed 39 billion won this year.