Human Rights Commission: "Educational Discrimination Must Be Improved in Private University Staff Hiring"

The National Human Rights Commission of Korea (NHRCK) has urged institutional improvements to prevent educational background discrimination during the hiring of private university staff.

On the 12th, the NHRCK announced that it conducted an ex officio investigation targeting 10 private universities and recommended improving the practice of not restricting educational qualifications except when necessary for job characteristics and allowing interviewers to know the applicants' alma mater.

On June 14 last year, the NHRCK decided to conduct an ex officio investigation on 10 private universities. The investigation was initiated following complaints that educational restrictions and scoring based on educational background in private university staff recruitment announcements constituted discrimination. Ten universities were selected for investigation due to the necessity of investigation, including cases where alma mater was listed, degree-based scoring was applied, or the Ministry of Education had issued audit warnings regarding alma mater ranking systems.

The NHRCK confirmed that eight investigated universities required a bachelor's degree or higher for regular staff recruitment in general administrative tasks that did not require specific qualifications. The universities explained, "For teaching assistants, we require an equivalent or higher educational standard, and university life experience greatly helps in performing the job," and "Since recruitment is on a small scale, it is difficult to introduce various evaluation procedures to verify job competency."

In response, the NHRCK pointed out, "It is unreasonable to apply the hiring criteria for teaching assistants to staff recruitment since the nature of their duties differs," and "Whether or not one has university life experience is not an essential factor for providing appropriate services, and justifying the deprivation of hiring opportunities on the grounds that it is difficult to establish various job competency evaluation procedures is unacceptable."

Nine investigated universities disclosed applicants' alma mater to interviewers and others during document screening and interviews. The universities responded, "Interviewers want related information as reference material, and alma mater can be a measure to evaluate sincerity," and "It is necessary to disclose the name of the alma mater as it is only one of the items in the comprehensive evaluation."

The NHRCK explained, "Due to university hierarchies, there is a risk of preferential treatment or exclusion of graduates from certain schools, or prejudice by appointing authorities and personnel related to specific schools," and "If alma mater is disclosed during the screening process, it cannot be ruled out that it may influence the hiring evaluation."

Furthermore, the NHRCK stated, "Restricting educational qualifications during staff recruitment and disclosing applicants' alma mater to interviewers during the hiring process constitute discriminatory acts infringing on the right to equality," and "We will continue to pay attention and make efforts to improve practices that limit fair hiring opportunities based on discrimination and prejudice without reasonable grounds."

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