20 Billion Won Support for 5 Four-Year Universities Independently Promoting Private University Innovation

Education Trust Recovery Promotion Team Discusses 'Private School Innovation Support Project'
Final Announcement in Early May Followed by Institutional and Legal Reforms
Annual Human Rights Survey for Students with Disabilities to Begin This Year

[Asia Economy Reporter Han Jinju] The Ministry of Education has selected five four-year universities to promote private school innovation projects, including securing accounting transparency, and will support them with 2 billion KRW over two years.

On the 19th, the Ministry of Education held the 19th meeting of the 'Education Trust Recovery Promotion Team (hereafter Promotion Team)' to discuss the implementation plan for the private school innovation support project and to review the status of comprehensive measures for protecting the human rights of students with disabilities.

The Ministry of Education decided to provide incentives to universities that implement the private school innovation tasks proposed to strengthen transparency and publicness in private schools. Securing accounting transparency is a mandatory task, and universities must select and implement two or more tasks from each area. The detailed tasks for securing accounting transparency are divided into ▲expanding member participation in the budget and settlement process ▲disclosure of financial and accounting information ▲internal accounting management and supervision ▲external accounting supervision.

In addition to the mandatory task, universities must select two or more of the seven models across four areas proposed by the Ministry of Education. The four areas are ▲accountability in corporate operation ▲publicness in corporate operation ▲democracy in faculty and staff personnel affairs ▲self-innovation.

The Ministry of Education stated, "For the selected corporations (universities), the democracy and publicness of board operations and the transparency of accounting operations will be dramatically improved," and added, "It is also expected that the culture of democratic decision-making within the campus will be greatly expanded."

The Ministry plans to finalize the announcement in early May after collecting field opinions on the draft basic plan discussed at this meeting. Even after selecting the supported universities, the Ministry will maximize outcomes through consulting and promote institutionalization and legislation.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education Yoo Eun-hye said, "We do not view private schools merely as objects of regulation but hope to proactively support their autonomous innovation so that private schools themselves can enhance their willingness to innovate," and added, "We will do our best to ensure the passage of the pending private school innovation-related bills."

Starting this year, the Ministry of Education will conduct an annual human rights survey of students with disabilities. The Ministry has amended the 'Special Education Act for Persons with Disabilities, etc.' necessary for this and completed a preliminary research survey.

To prevent recurrence of cases where crisis behaviors of students with disabilities lead to human rights violations, regional hub behavior intervention support centers will be designated and operated. 150 special education teachers will be trained as behavior intervention experts, and behavior intervention programs will be supported for 600 people.

Gangwon Taebaek Mirae School, which was controversial for accommodating students in illegal facilities, and Seoul Ingwang School, where incidents of assault and abuse of students with disabilities occurred, were converted to public schools in March and September 2019, respectively.

The Ministry of Education has expanded the regular survey of social service agents in special schools from once a year to twice a year. Social service agents supporting activities of students with disabilities will be preferentially assigned if they have a special education major or qualification, and related regulations have been established to allow reassignment of service institutions if social controversies arise.

To resolve issues of long-distance commuting and overcrowded classes for students with disabilities, the Ministry has increased the number of special education teachers by 3,600 over three years since 2019 and newly established or expanded 11 special schools and more than 1,250 special classes.