Professors withholding allowances during COVID... Anti-Corruption Commission demands full audit from Ministry of Education

Investigation of 12 National and Public Universities... 9.4 Billion KRW Improperly Received Confirmed

Kim Ki-seon, Director of the Screening and Protection Bureau at the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission, announces the results of the survey on student guidance expenses at national and public universities on the 11th at the Government Seoul Office. (Photo by Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission)

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Moon Chaeseok] Professors and staff at national universities were caught inflating their student guidance records to claim nearly 10 billion won in student guidance funds.

On the 11th, the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission announced that an investigation conducted from March to April into the fraudulent receipt of last year's student guidance funds at 12 major national and public universities nationwide revealed that 9.4 billion won was improperly spent at 10 national universities. Student guidance funds are allowances paid differentially based on individual performance in activities such as student counseling and on-campus safety guidance, funded by students' tuition fees. Performance is recognized when activities related to students are conducted during lunch breaks, after work hours, weekends, or holidays.

In a major case, staff at University A inflated the number of student guidance activities by changing locations and clothes, receiving about 1.2 billion won improperly. University B paid approximately 700 million won in student guidance funds, claiming that up to 172 staff members conducted student safety guidance daily, despite 84% of students attending remote classes due to COVID-19. University C set the student guidance fund at 130,000 won per SNS message sent by professors to students, most of which were simple health check-ins related to COVID-19.

One school recognized answers to simple queries posted by students on departmental bulletin boards as mentoring achievements, paying 5 million won per professor to 157 professors. This school also recognized group emails related to school announcements as achievements if even one recipient confirmed receipt, paying 5 million won each to all 551 staff members.

The Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission judged that such behavior is a common problem across all national universities and requested a full audit from the Ministry of Education. For three universities that refused or failed to submit materials, the commission requested investigations by law enforcement agencies.

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