Prearranged Agreement Leads to Colleague Professor's Daughter's Graduate School Final Admission
Encouraged Own College Daughter to Enroll, Awarded A+
Used Corporate Card Without Documentation Totaling 1.05 Billion KRW
[Asia Economy Intern Reporter Kim Bong-ju] Professors at Yonsei University were found to have manipulated grades to help a fellow professor's child gain admission to graduate school.
It was revealed during a Ministry of Education audit that a Yonsei University professor encouraged his daughter to take his class and then gave her the highest grade.
Several professors used a total of 1,051,800,000 KRW on corporate cards without proper documentation.
The Ministry of Education disclosed the results of a comprehensive audit of Yonsei University on the 14th.
According to the Ministry of Education's comprehensive audit, one Yonsei University professor taught accounting in the second semester of 2017 and instructed his daughter, an undergraduate majoring in Food and Nutrition, to take his class, subsequently awarding her an A+ grade.
The investigation found that the professor, living with his daughter, created exam questions at home and appeared to avoid the audit by not keeping grade calculation records separately.
Another professor's daughter received unfair benefits during the Yonsei University graduate school admission document screening process.
Six evaluation committee professors conspired in advance with the head professor to raise the daughter of a fellow professor from 9th place in the quantitative evaluation to 5th place in the document screening, granting her the opportunity for an oral exam.
The evaluation committee professors then awarded the fellow professor's daughter a perfect score of 100 on the oral exam, while lowering the oral exam scores of two applicants who passed the document screening in 1st and 2nd place to 47 and 63 points, respectively.
Ultimately, the fellow professor's daughter was admitted as a new graduate student.
The Ministry of Education has requested the prosecution to investigate the professors who unfairly gave grades to their children and those involved in the unfair selection of graduate school entrants on charges of obstruction of business.
They also urged that severe disciplinary actions such as dismissal, removal, or suspension be taken.
Accounting irregularities were also uncovered in large numbers.
Professors holding key positions at Yonsei University used a total of 1,051,800,000 KRW on corporate cards without separate documentation.
Professors affiliated with Yonsei University’s affiliated hospital were found to have used corporate cards 45 times at entertainment bars and karaoke bars, spending 16,690,000 KRW, and 205,630,000 KRW at golf courses.
A total of 86 cases were identified in this comprehensive audit at Yonsei University, resulting in 26 people facing severe disciplinary actions.
Additionally, eight cases were reported for violations of the Private School Act and charges such as breach of trust and embezzlement. Four cases were referred for investigation on charges including obstruction of business and breach of trust, marking a higher number of cases than in comprehensive audits of other universities.
A Ministry of Education official stated, "The reason Yonsei University has many points of criticism is that this is the first time it has undergone a comprehensive audit since its founding," adding, "Other schools have at least undergone accounting audits even if not comprehensive audits, but Yonsei University has never had an accounting audit before."
Yonsei University was selected as the first school for a comprehensive audit after the Ministry of Education announced in June last year that it would conduct comprehensive audits of 16 private universities by 2021.
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