Universities face dilemmas as schools start semester online

With elementary, middle and high schools around South Korea set to begin their spring semester online in phases starting on 9 April, universities that have already been holding classes online have some big decisions to make. As they face increasing pressure to extend the online phase of the semester, more students are calling for their tuition to be refunded because of the decreasing quality of their education, writes Choi Won-hyung for Hankyoreh.

On 1 April Ewha Womans University announced that its lectures would be held online for the entire duration of the spring semester. While most universities have moved classes online amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Ewha is only the second (after the Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology) to apply the online model to the entire spring semester.

Seoul National University and Hanyang University have updated their plans, declaring that they will continue to hold classes remotely until the COVID-19 situation has stabilised. This means both universities could also end up holding the entire spring semester online. Sungkyunkwan University and the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) had already made the same decision to hold online classes until further notice.
Full report on the Hankyoreh site