13 Additional Universities Selected Among Those Failing University Competency Assessment... Announcement in May Next Year

Selected 6 Additional Universities and 7 Junior Colleges for Budget Support
Universities: 2 in Capital Area, 4 in Non-Capital Areas, 1 Nationwide
Junior Colleges: 2 in Capital Area, 4 in Non-Capital Areas, 1 Nationwide

[Asia Economy Reporter Han Jinju] The Ministry of Education will additionally select 13 universities out of the 52 universities that failed the '2021 University Basic Competency Diagnosis' in May next year.

On the 29th, the Ministry of Education announced plans for additional selection of general financial support universities. They stated that they will provide a second chance to the universities that failed by evaluating core indicators of educational conditions over the past four years (new and enrolled student enrollment rates, faculty securing rate, education expense return rate, graduate employment) and educational innovation strategies.

Universities that did not participate in the 2021 diagnosis and universities restricted from government financial support in the 2022 academic year are excluded from the application. Schools designated as financially restricted universities for the 2023 academic year among the 52 unselected universities will also be excluded from the final selection.

The support scale is a total of 18 billion KRW for 6 general universities and 14 billion KRW for 7 specialized universities. 90% will be recruited by regional units and 10% will be selected nationwide.

For general universities, 2 universities in the metropolitan area, 3 universities in non-metropolitan areas, and 1 university nationwide will be selected. For specialized universities, 2 universities in the metropolitan area, 4 universities in non-metropolitan areas, and 1 university nationwide will be selected. In the case of non-metropolitan areas, the number of universities selected in one sub-region cannot exceed 50% of the total selection scale for non-metropolitan areas (3 to 4 universities).

Universities confirmed for additional selection as general financial support universities will receive support for the University and Specialized University Innovation Support Project for three years (2022?2024), the same as the previously selected universities.

The evaluation indicators reflect 60% quantitative indicators and 40% qualitative indicators.

The quantitative indicators consist of five core educational condition indicators: new student enrollment rate, enrolled student enrollment rate, (full-time) faculty securing rate, education expense return rate, and graduate employment rate. The target period is a total of four years, including the previous three years and one year after the diagnosis. The education expense return rate only considers data from the three years prior to the diagnosis. While respecting the 2021 indicator scoring, additional points due to total score changes are allocated to new and enrolled student enrollment rates.

The qualitative indicators evaluate general education curriculum, major curriculum, and teaching and learning methods. This includes department restructuring supporting educational innovation, academic operation innovation, and various innovation measures.

Choi Eun-ok, Director of Higher Education, explained, "Among the 11 quantitative indicators, five indicators to ensure the quality of education will be used for quantitative evaluation, and the qualitative indicators include three core aspects of undergraduate education. We plan to evaluate how to supplement and improve these over the next three years (2022?2024)."

The diagnosis target period (September 2018 to May 2021) and actions taken so far will apply the penalty criteria for fraud and corruption from the 2021 diagnosis. If falsehoods or exaggerations are found in evaluation materials during or after the evaluation process, additional penalties will be imposed through the University Structural Reform Committee's deliberation, and measures such as exclusion from general financial support will be taken.

The 13 selected universities must establish autonomous innovation plans and appropriate scaling plans and will be included in the regional maintenance enrollment rate inspection targets.

The additional selection will be announced in detail in January next year, followed by document and face-to-face evaluations in April to May, with final results announced in May 2022.

Qualitative evaluation will be conducted by the selection evaluation team. The evaluation team will be composed of experts such as university officials, public institution researchers, and higher education specialists, mainly those who participated as evaluators in the 2021 diagnosis. The evaluation panel will be formed considering the location of the evaluators' affiliated universities, alma maters, and affiliated institutions.

Director Choi Eun-ok said, "Since September, we have formed a council to discuss improvements to the university basic competency diagnosis evaluation system. The consensus was that it is important to provide a fair second chance to the 52 unselected universities, and it was judged that using existing scores would not give all universities an opportunity. Even with additional selection, we will minimize the burden on universities and go through procedures that can confirm their willingness and capability for innovation."

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