Universities Also Hold Online Classes in the Second Semester... Will Tuition Refund Controversy Recur?

COVID-19 Resurgence Expected to Last Until October at the Longest

On May 19th, students belonging to Corona University Student 119 held a press conference demanding tuition refunds in front of the Government Seoul Office in Jongno-gu, Seoul. Photo by Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunju Lee] As confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) have occurred at some universities in the Seoul metropolitan area, non-face-to-face (untact) classes on campuses are being prolonged even further.

According to the Korean University Professors Association, numerous confirmed cases were reported at Yonsei University, Ewha Womans University, Hanyang University, and Hongik University around the start of the second semester. With social distancing measures strengthened to level 2.5, universities have switched from a hybrid model of in-person and online classes to fully online classes. Most universities have decided to conduct fully online classes for the first two weeks after the semester begins, and even those planning in-person classes are changing to online. They plan to maintain online classes throughout September and, in some cases, until October.

Yonsei University and Chung-Ang University have decided to conduct fully online classes until the end of October, while Soongsil University will not hold in-person classes until the midterm exams in October. Konkuk University, Kookmin University, Dongguk University, Ewha Womans University, Hanyang University, and Hongik University will conduct online classes for the first two weeks after the semester starts. Sejong University initially planned to offer in-person, hybrid, and online lectures based on a class size of 30 students but decided on October 4 to switch entirely to online lectures starting from September 2. Some universities, such as POSTECH, representing about 10% of universities nationwide, have decided to conduct the entire second semester fully online.

On the other hand, universities like University of Seoul and Sungkyunkwan University caused controversy by continuing in-person classes despite the strengthened social distancing measures. These universities have announced that if social distancing is raised to level 3, all classes will be conducted online. Due to the elevated social distancing measures, students will have to attend online classes for the time being, but debates over tuition refunds may resurface among university students. According to a survey conducted by the National University Student Council Network from the 12th of last month for 16 days, targeting 2,951 university students nationwide, 81.9% responded that a tuition reassessment is "very necessary," and 11.8% said it is "necessary." The main reasons cited were "because facilities cannot be used" and "because the current tuition was set based on offline classes."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.