One Year Since the Implementation of the Instructor Act... Increase in University Instructors' Teaching Ratio and Small-Scale Lectures

Instructor Lecture Responsibility Ratio 21.3%
123,334 Courses with 20 or Fewer Students Increased by 0.6%p

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[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunju Lee] On the first anniversary of the implementation of the "Lecturer Act (Revised Higher Education Act)" aimed at improving the treatment of part-time lecturers, the proportion of lectures handled by lecturers has increased, and small-sized courses have risen again.

The Ministry of Education and the Korea Council for University Education announced on the 30th the analysis results of major disclosure items for 196 general universities and education universities out of 415 universities nationwide.

According to this disclosure analysis, the proportion of lectures handled by lecturers at general universities and education universities was 21.3%, an increase of 4.0 percentage points compared to the second semester of last year. The proportion of lectures handled by full-time faculty was 66.7%, a decrease of 1.1 percentage points during the same period.

The number of small-sized lectures also increased. The number of courses in the second semester of this year was about 300,000, of which courses with 20 or fewer students accounted for 123,334 (40.3%), and those with 30 or fewer students accounted for 192,041 (62.8%). The proportion of small-sized courses had shown a declining trend for two consecutive years but rose by 0.6 percentage points and 1.2 percentage points, respectively. A Ministry of Education official said, "It appears that universities have prepared self-help measures in response to external criticism about the decrease in small-sized courses," adding, "The Ministry of Education also strengthened the appropriateness criteria for lecture size in university competency evaluations, changing the standard from 50 or fewer students in 2018 and 2019 to 30 or fewer students this year."

Meanwhile, the revenue-generating basic assets held by private university corporations amounted to 9.4 trillion won, an increase of about 400 billion won compared to the previous year. The acquisition rate rose by 0.2 percentage points to 71.4% compared to the previous year.

The completion rate of violence prevention education among university staff was 65.4%, an increase of 6.7 percentage points from the previous year, while the completion rate of education among university students was only 43.0%.