"Perfect Education Performance but Rejected?"... Inha University Condemns Ministry of Education's Financial Support Evaluation

University Members Hold Ministry of Education Protest Rally and Press Conference on the 23rd
Demand Disclosure of Evaluation Criteria and Results... Student Council Protests at Ministry of Education
Justice Party and Civic Groups Condemn "Unfair and Inadequate Evaluation"

Members of Inha University held a rally and press conference on campus on the 23rd to condemn the Ministry of Education after being excluded from the general financial support program, stating that they cannot accept the evaluation results. Considering the COVID-19 situation, students attended by hanging only their jumpers on auditorium chairs.
[Photo by Inha University]

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Hyesook] Inha University’s members are strongly protesting the Ministry of Education’s evaluation results, refusing to accept the university’s exclusion from the government’s general financial support (University Basic Competency Diagnosis). Local political circles and civic groups are also united in calling for a re-evaluation by the Ministry of Education.

On the 23rd, Inha University’s Student Council, Faculty Association, Labor Union, and Alumni Association jointly held a rally and press conference on campus condemning the Ministry of Education, stating, “The Ministry’s violent behavior of disciplining universities through a system that differentially supports finances after freezing tuition fees for the past 13 years, leading to a state of collapse, is unacceptable,” and urged, “The Ministry of Education must stop stigmatizing Inha University as a failing institution.”

They argued, “The ‘educational performance’ indicator, which uses student enrollment rates and graduate employment rates as diagnostic criteria, received a perfect score, but the ‘class and curriculum operation’ score was failing, so we cannot accept this evaluation result,” and demanded, “The Ministry of Education must transparently disclose the evaluation criteria and results.”

They added, “Inha University obtained accreditation from the Korean Council for University Education’s Institutional Evaluation in 2019 and ranked first among 14 metropolitan universities in the Ministry of Education’s ACE+ University Autonomous Competency Enhancement Support Project,” emphasizing, “Inha University’s members and 190,000 alumni will explore all possible measures, including legal action, to restore the damaged honor.”

Earlier, on the 17th, the Ministry of Education announced the preliminary results of the ‘2021 University Basic Competency Diagnosis,’ excluding 52 universities nationwide, including Inha University, from the general financial support target. If these preliminary results are finalized, these universities will not receive general financial support for the next three years.

Inha University scored 87 points (out of 100) in this evaluation and was not selected for general financial support, with analysis suggesting that the low score of 67 points in the qualitative evaluation section on curriculum operation and improvement had a significant impact.

However, since being selected for the Ministry of Education’s University Autonomous Competency Enhancement Support Project (ACE+) in 2017, Inha University scored 91.34 points in the 2019 evaluation, surpassing the national average of 89.89 points, and received a ‘successful project execution’ evaluation in the 2021 comprehensive assessment.

The Ministry of Education’s current University Basic Competency Diagnosis evaluated curriculum operation and improvement from 2018 to 2020. Despite evaluating the same period and the same curriculum operation and improvement, contradictory results were produced. This has led to criticism that Inha University’s curriculum was not properly evaluated.

Inha University filed an objection with the Ministry of Education on the 20th, and the Student Council plans to continue protests in front of the Ministry of Education in Sejong City from the 23rd to the 27th, demanding a fair objection review and transparent disclosure of evaluation criteria.

Meanwhile, the Justice Party Incheon City Branch stated in a commentary on the 20th, “Inha University was excluded despite receiving perfect scores in quantitative evaluations such as autonomous indicators, education cost return rate, student enrollment rate, and graduate employment rate,” urging, “The Ministry of Education should actively accept Inha University’s objections regarding fairness and issues in this evaluation and conduct a fair re-evaluation.”

The city branch emphasized, “This incident should serve as an opportunity to establish a system for fair evaluations, including creating proper diagnostic indicators.”

On the same day, the Incheon Peace and Welfare Solidarity issued a statement saying, “The Ministry of Education’s evaluation is an incomprehensible poor evaluation, and what is even more incomprehensible is that the Ministry has not even disclosed the reasons for the qualitative evaluation or the final scores for each school,” adding, “If the Ministry ignores Inha University’s objections and does not conduct a fair re-evaluation, we will take action together with the Incheon local community.”

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