University President Accused of Manipulating Freshman False Registration and Enrollment Rate

Kwonikwi Recommends Ministry of Education to Improve 'University Basic Competency Diagnosis' System

[Asia Economy Reporter Moon Chaeseok] In the future, if a university president engages in fraudulent or corrupt practices such as falsely admitting new students to receive high scores during the Ministry of Education's 'University Basic Competency Diagnosis' and then processing their withdrawal after the diagnosis to artificially inflate student numbers, they will face criminal charges.

On the 8th, the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission announced that it has prepared the 'Measures to Enhance Fairness in University Basic Competency Diagnosis' containing these provisions, recommended improvements to the Ministry of Education, and mandated the revision of related laws by the end of next year.

Since 2015, the Ministry of Education has conducted the University Basic Competency Diagnosis every three years in preparation for the declining school-age population, supporting universities' autonomous structural reforms such as government financial aid and quota reductions based on the results.

Last year, 859.6 billion KRW in project funds were provided to 240 universities that passed the 2018 diagnosis. Next year, the diagnosis will be conducted again for universities wishing to participate, and all universities that pass will receive financial support.

Accordingly, most universities have been increasing student numbers according to their quotas in line with the Ministry of Education's University Basic Competency Diagnosis or reducing their quotas if recruitment is difficult.

However, some universities committed admission fraud by falsely registering relatives or acquaintances of faculty and staff as new students instead of reducing quotas, then processing their withdrawal after the diagnosis to manipulate the enrollment rate.

During the 2018 University Basic Competency Diagnosis, a corruption report was filed with the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission that University A falsely admitted about 150 relatives and acquaintances of faculty and staff to increase the student enrollment rate and processed their withdrawal after the diagnosis, receiving 12.1 billion KRW in national scholarships.

In response, the Commission supplemented the evaluation method by introducing a dropout rate deduction indicator to enable cross-verification during the student enrollment rate assessment based on the investigation results of the University Basic Competency Diagnosis system.

Additionally, dropout rates will be added as an inspection item during on-site checks, and universities that deviate from the average range when comparing enrollment rates will be subject to on-site inspections to strengthen the crackdown on false or manipulated activities.

If serious fraud or corruption is detected during the diagnosis process, clear processing standards will be established to allow criminal charges or audits, and universities penalized for fraud or corruption will be publicly disclosed to guarantee the right to know for parents and students.

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