Professors took students’ exams to avoid department shutdown

(Gwangju District Court)

Three professors and a teaching assistant in Gwangju were fined for taking exams on behalf of their students in an attempt to prevent their department from being abolished, the Gwangju District Court said Monday.

The four were fined between 1.5 million won and 6 million won ($1,000 to $4,000) after being found guilty of obstructing academic operations and aiding and abetting the obstruction of business.

The defendants had directly recruited students to fill their department’s enrollment quota, as the program faced closure for failing to attract enough applicants. When the students’ grades dropped in 2022 and they risked expulsion, the defendants took exams in their place and manipulated scores to keep them enrolled.

The four were found to have forged student scores in between four and 29 confirmed cases.

One professor took 29 tests for students between April and December 2023, grading them all himself. Another professor was charged after submitting test results — written by a teaching assistant — to the Office of Academic Affairs.

The defendants told investigators they acted under continued pressure from the university to recruit and retain students.

“There was huge pressure that the recruited students must not be expelled for our department to continue to exist,” a professor told police, according to the court.

In a related case, the court also fined a student 1.5 million won for blackmailing the professors, claiming he would “report them to the education authorities for evaluation fraud.”

“Even if such illegal practices existed in reality, they cannot — and must not — be justified under the pretext of customary practice,” the court said.

“However, the verdict took into account the defendants’ acknowledgment and remorse, the fact that the college, the victim of the business obstruction, did not seek punishment, and that the defendants did not obtain financial benefits from their crimes.”

Over 35 universities and 163 college departments nationwide failed to meet recruitment quotas in 2024, amid South Korea's birthrate collapse, according to data from Jongno Hagwon, a major college entrance exam preparatory academy.