Ministry of Education Opens National University Secretary-General Positions to Private Sector... Approval of Legal Amendment Proposal

Measures for 'Public Official Division Controversy'
Establishing Grounds for Appointment of Professors and Private Experts

The Ministry of Education will open the position of secretary-general at national universities to the private sector, including professors, instead of limiting it to general public officials as is currently the case.

On the 10th, the Ministry of Education announced through a press release that at the Cabinet meeting held that day, partial amendments to four laws, including the 'National School Establishment Decree,' were reviewed and approved.

To fully guarantee the appointment authority of the secretary-general at national universities, the Ministry of Education abolished the regulation that appointed general public officials, deputy directors, section chiefs, and technical section chiefs?who currently belong to the senior public official group?as secretary-generals of national universities.

Instead, a basis was established to allow professors or private experts to be selected and appointed as specially appointed public officials to this position.

Until now, the secretary-general of national universities has been known as a 'promotion course' for senior public officials. The secretary-general at national universities is responsible for tasks such as personnel, payroll, and internal audits within the university. However, there have been criticisms that the Ministry of Education might be interfering with university affairs.

Lee Ju-ho, Deputy Prime Minister for Social Affairs and Minister of Education, is delivering opening remarks at the Social Relations Ministers' Meeting held on the 26th at the Government Seoul Office in Jongno-gu, Seoul. Photo by Jo Yong-jun jun21@

The reorganization of the senior public official system is also a key policy direction of the Yoon Seok-yeol administration. President Yoon has emphasized reducing personnel and recruiting external talent, presenting a public official organization reform plan earlier this year.

Accordingly, at the end of September last year, the Ministry of Education announced that it would completely exclude Ministry of Education public officials from appointments as secretary-generals of national universities and would appoint them through personnel exchanges with other ministries, private sector openings, and public competitions. Subsequently, as of July 1, all secretary-generals at 14 national universities who were appointed through personnel exchanges with other ministries and public competitions were returned to their original ministries.

The Ministry of Education stated, "We plan to continue on-site communication in the future and do our best to establish the system so that experts from various fields needed by national universities can be appointed as secretary-generals."

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