By You Soo-sun
Thousands of employees at private universities were found to have embezzled 310.7 billion won ($274 million) in school funds over the past 10 years, according to an audit report by the Ministry of Education.
There were 736 cases in which school employees embezzled money from student tuition, admission fees and research funds, according to a ministry report containing audit results of 360 private universities between 2008 and 2017. Among them, 80 have faced legal suits or investigation.
Common misdemeanors included making unlawful transactions such as using the school credit card for golf and entertainment establishments, cashing out gift cards purchased through education funds, and using the school budget to cover personal legal suits.
The ministry requested schools to permanently dismiss 982 employees and issue warnings for 8,638 others responsible for these crimes.
And for the 205 cases the ministry deemed especially grave, the ministry directly filed lawsuits or sought prosecutorial investigation of the accused, including 21 school board executives and 32 chancellors.
In many cases, employees misappropriated from the education budget, drawn up solely from student tuition fees, for miscellaneous or irrelevant purposes.
Last year, employees at Asia LIFE University in Daejeon withdrew 870 million won from the fund without an approved purpose. Its general affairs department manager and former chancellor were punished.
In 2013, employees at Myongji College in Seoul embezzled 21.3 billion won to purchase real estate insurance. The same year, the former chancellor of Jeonghwa Arts College embezzled 8.2 billion won from scores of schools run under the its foundation.
An audit conducted this February found rampant embezzlement at Paekche Institute of the Arts in North Jeolla Province. The chancellor misused the school credit card to pay for golf games 90 times, which amounted to 23.7 million won. Three employees there allegedly spent 158 million won in 180 purchases at an entertainment establishment. The school denied the charges and is seeking re-examination.
Many attribute such cases to a lack of adequate measures regulating private universities here under the current laws on private schools. Government subsidies going to private universities also soared in the last 10 years under the previous conservative governments of Park Geun-hye and Lee Myung-bak, with private universities taking 68 percent of government education subsidies, up from 49 percent in 2004.
The education ministry has vowed to enforce greater transparency in school transactions and is now accepting reports on related crimes from citizens.