SOUTH KOREA: Private institutions 'named and shamed'

Some 43 poorly managed private universities, colleges and vocational institutions have been named and shamed by South Korea's Ministry of Education, Science and Technology for not meeting criteria for being well run. They will no longer be eligible for state subsidies, as part of the government's attempts to restructure and improve the higher education sector.

Together the 43 institutions received a total of 130 billion won (US$121.3 million) in state funding last year. These funds will now be channelled to the 85% of institutions that met the government's criteria. Almost a quarter of the named institutions were in the Seoul area.

"Our principle is simple - competitive institutions will receive more support, but there will be less support for under-performing institutions," said Hong Seung-yong (pictured), chair of the ministry's higher education restructuring panel.

"The purpose of selecting poorly-managed universities is to use our people's taxes for good universities. It is also a serious warning for them to change," he said as he announced the list.

The move is in advance of a major restructuring of the higher education sector so that the government can use funds to reduce soaring tuition fee levels, which caused huge protests in May and June.

On Thursday, the government also announced that 1.5 trillion won (US$1.3 billion) would be set aside in next years's budget to reduce the heavy tuition fees burden on students. The money will be used for a national scholarship scheme for students from low-income families, decreasing their tuition fees by around 22%, ministry officials said.

Education Minister Lee Ju-ho said the government would look into other ways to reduce fees. "(This) tuition assistance plan will not be a one-time measure. At the same time we will urge universities to come up with their own ways to lower high tuition."

Universities that did not attempt to reduce fees would not be able to benefit from the new scholarship scheme for low-income students, officials said. The 43 blacklisted institutions listed earlier in the week would also not be eligible for the scheme.

The 'name and shame' announcement came after an evaluation of the 346 private institutions, which make up 80% of the country's higher education colleges and universities. The main criteria for assessing performance were the employment rate of recent graduates, the student retention rate and the quality of faculty.

The evaluation began in July, and the ministry said it was now in the final stages of drawing up a list of 'poorly managed' public universities. It revealed that at least six state-run institutions would also be subject to restructuring.

At 17 of the 43 named institutions, which comprise 15% of Korea's 200 four-year colleges and 146 junior colleges, students entering next academic year will also face additional restrictions on their eligibility for government-funded loans.

At the four-worst performing institutions - Kundong University in Andong, Myungshin University in Suncheon, Holy University in Cheonan and Sunghwa College in Gangji - students will be limited to receiving a loan covering only 30% of their tuition fees. Students at a further 13 institutions will receive loans of only up to 70% of the fees - a move clearly intended to drive down fee levels.

With the early admissions season beginning last week, the named institutions will have a hard time attracting students for next year. Even some institutions expecting to be listed admitted they had been hit hard by the public disclosure of the names.

"Early admissions applications start in a couple of days and we are speechless," said Kim Jin-Byeong, head of the planning office of Wonkwang Unversity.

"We were in the middle of restructuring for the betterment of the university, but being selected as one of the 17 universities whose students are restricted from receiving loans made us run out of steam," he told the Joongang Daily newspaper.

Reeling from the shock of being listed, Sangmyung University in Seoul questioned the fairness of the process. Officials said the university had never been shown to have financial problems and had not received government penalties before.

Other listed universities said they had convened emergency faculty meetings to come up with new measures to address the listing criteria.

All 43 institutions could also be candidates for mergers and closures expected to begin as early as November.

However, said the ministry's Hong: "As the evaluation of colleges takes place every year, the listed schools can make efforts this year to regain eligibility for government funding.

"The selected schools will have to carry out rigorous restructuring to survive. Some of them will have to seek mergers with other institutions or shut down because they are unable to remain operational."

Some of the 'poorly managed' schools are large. Four of them have a student body of more than 10,000, and six have 5,000 to 10,000 students.

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