Professors discuss need to make shutting down universities easier

As Korea's student population dwindles, one solution is to voluntarily shut down private universities outside the greater Seoul area.

An empty classroom at a university. [NEWS1]

As Korea's student population dwindles, one solution is to voluntarily shut down private universities outside the greater Seoul area.

To discuss plans to address the decreasing student population, the Korean Council for University Education (KCEU) and the Korean Educational Research Association held a forum on Wednesday.

"Rather than moderately cutting university quotas, we need to implement a strong restructuring plan by separating universities that have potential to grow and those that can be closed," said Nam Doo-woo, a professor teaching at Inha University's Asia Pacific School of Logistics, at the forum. "Universities had a total student quota of 472,000 in 2021, and we need to cut that to around 250,000 by 2041."

“There are currently 84 universities struggling to operate, and even if we shut down all of them, that's only three to four percent of the student quota we need to cut," said Professor Nam. “There were a total of 325 universities and technical colleges [as of 2021], and 278 are private universities, but there aren't many policies that will help them shut down."

The 84 universities refers to schools that are financially insolvent and are struggling to recruit students, designated by the Ministry of Education each year.

The need to close universities follows university entrance quotas outnumbering applicants, which will continue to fall as Korea's population shrinks.

In 2040, there will be approximately 280,000 students eligible to enter university — referring to high school graduates that year and those taking the Korean College Scholastic Ability Test again — according to the KCEU. That's 39.1 percent down from 460,000 in 2020.

If university student quotas don't shrink, there will be 120,000 left over places in 2024, rising to 200,000 in 2040. Korean universities had a total of 40,043 left over student places in 2021.

Speakers stated that there needs be a standard guideline to when and how to close down universities, especially for private universities outside the greater Seoul region.

"The problem is that we are having many so-called zombie universities that only rely on financial support from the government," said Kim Jung-ho, a political science and international relations professor at Inha University. "Although we should financially support universities, we then need to strictly evaluate them using figures such as educational restitution rate, employment rate of graduates and the number of students per total quota."

Need for a policy to encourage universities to voluntarily shut down was also discussed.

"Universities refrain from shutting down because under the current law, the remaining assets aren't vested to the university foundation when they close, but either to the government or local government," said Kim Sung-ki, a professor teaching at Hyupsung University's Graduate School of Education. "We need to create a policy that will make universities willing to voluntarily shut down."

One solution discussed at the forum was to give financial support to universities that shut down.

"We need to create policies that will encourage private universities to close, rather than make them merge with each other or reorganize," said Shin Sung-wook, a business professor at Catholic University of Pusan. "One method could be to provide financial support to universities that cut quotas outside areas of education it specializes in and giving grants to university foundations that voluntarily closes its schools."

Learn more about Korean university life on K-campus.

BY LEE HOO-YEON,LEE TAE-HEE [lee.taehee2@joongang.co.kr]