Government dims undecided major spotlight after funding plan backlash

Admitting undecided majors will no longer be the only factor when it comes to university funding, in a reversal by the Ministry of Education.

Seoul National University students attend the matriculation ceremony in February last year. Universities that select 25 percent or more of its incoming class as undecided major students in the 2025 academic year will be able to get up to 10 extra points in the evaluation for government funding.

Admitting undecided majors will no longer be the only factor when it comes to university funding, in a reversal by the Ministry of Education after backlash.

According to the funding plan announced by the Education Ministry on Tuesday, private universities proven to innovate will get 441 billion won ($331,400) while national universities who do so will receive 342.6 billion won.

The number of undecided students was to be the only funding metric in a draft released earlier this month but was changed to include more factors in the evaluation after facing backlash.

"Our goal is for universities to have 25 percent or more of their student quota as undecided major students," a spokesperson for the Ministry of Education said. "But we understand that universities need a lot more time to prepare, so this year's funding will even be given to universities that don't meet that goal."

Universities will be evaluated on a 100-point scale, which will assess factors such as innovation, improvements to the academic system and learning opportunities for students, according to the ministry.

Funding will be split proportionately depending on the letter grade — either S, A, B or C — that universities get.

However, recruiting undecided majors will still play a big part. Universities can get up to 10 additional points on top of the 100-point evaluation scale based on the number of undecided students they plan to select in the 2025 academic year.

Those who select 25 percent or more of its incoming class as undecided major students will receive an additional eight to 10 points.

Universities that give undecided students the option to choose from any major except medicine, nursing and education will receive the full 10 points. Universities will get eight or nine points if they impose certain restrictions, such as only allowing students to select majors among designated academic disciplines.

The fewer undecided majors a university admits, the fewer number of additional points it gets, according to the funding system. Universities who admit fewer than 5 percent of students as undecided majors will not get any extra points.

Incentivized by funding, many universities plan to select more undecided students in the future.

According to a Korean Council for University Education's survey of 135 university presidents released Tuesday, 61 respondents said their university admits undecided students. Among them, 47 said they plan to select more undecided majors while 14 said the quota will remain the same.

Of the 74 universities that don't select students as undecided majors, 57 said they will create an undecided major program. The remaining 17 said they don't have plans to do so.

Although funding may help universities, some say the change will hinder the quality of education.

Since 2018, Ewha Womans University has been selecting around 350 students, or 10 percent of its incoming class, as undecided majors that study under the Hokma College of General Education. Students can choose any major except medicine, nursing and education in their sophomore year.

While there are plenty of options, students tend to pick certain favorites.

Among the 359 students admitted in 2022, 28.5 percent chose computer engineering. That's more than double the quota of 53 allocated for computer engineering students through the susi track, which is similar to early decisions in the U.S. admissions system.

Another 18.8 percent chose business, 9.3 percent chose electrical and electronics engineering, 8.3 percent chose chemical engineering and materials science and 6.5 percent chose media communications.

"There were students that weren't certain on what major they want to choose, and because everyone was talking about the fourth industrial revolution and things like that, there was an overall notion that it is best to choose computer engineering," a student who enrolled at Ewha Womans University's Hokma College of General Education in 2021 said.

Computer engineering was a popular choice among other universities as well.

At Seoul National University's college of liberal studies, which also selects students as undecided majors, 45 out of the total 156 sophomores chose computer engineering this year — 28.8 percent.

Hiring enough faculty in popular majors is another problem.

"We need to offer more courses if there are more students, but it's hard to find professors and lecturers in the computer engineering field," said Yong Hwan-seung, a professor at Ewha Womans University's Department of Computer Science and Engineering. "The only solution is to increase the number of students per class, and that leads to a decline in the quality of education."

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