Over 4,000 People Agree in Less Than a Day
Spreading Through Hashtag Campaign as Well
A petition related to Inha University posted on the 19th. Photo by Incheon Metropolitan City Official Website
[Asia Economy Reporter Na Ye-eun] Inha University failed to qualify as a general financial support university in the '2021 University Basic Competency Diagnosis' results, and a petition related to Inha University was posted on the Incheon Metropolitan City citizen petition board, receiving over 4,000 endorsements in less than a day.
Earlier, on the 17th, the Ministry of Education announced through the '2021 University Basic Competency Diagnosis' results that 233 universities, including 136 general universities and 97 junior colleges, corresponding to the top 73%, were selected as general financial support universities. Consequently, 52 universities, corresponding to the bottom 27%, were excluded from receiving government general financial support. Notable universities in the metropolitan area such as Inha University, Sungshin Women's University, Yongin University, and Suwon University were among those that failed.
According to the Incheon Metropolitan City citizen petition board on the 19th, a petition titled "Inha University members demand a response from Incheon Metropolitan City," posted early that morning, had received 4,339 endorsements by 4 p.m. Incheon Metropolitan City requires over 3,000 endorsements within 30 days to respond to a petition, and this petition met the qualification in just one day.
The petitioner stated, "There are countless issues raised regarding this evaluation, but they can be summarized into two main points," adding, "First, Inha University received nearly perfect scores in quantitative evaluations, but was significantly and suspiciously deducted in subjective evaluation areas, resulting in a provisional failure."
He explained that the main reason for Inha University's failure was the evaluation indicator related to "curriculum operation and improvement," which "is influenced by the evaluators."
He also pointed out, "The second issue is the occurrence of reverse discrimination against universities in the metropolitan area. In this evaluation conducted after three years, the Ministry of Education set the regional and national selection ratio at 5 to 1 in the 2018 diagnosis, but this time divided the nation into five regions, selecting 90% of universities within each region first and then selecting the rest on a national basis, applying a reverse discriminatory standard unfavorable to metropolitan universities, which is a serious problem indicating an unfair evaluation structure."
He continued, "The provisional failure of our university in the general financial support category in this University Structure Reform Committee evaluation is not merely a matter of suspension of financial support," adding, "This incident could halt the growth and development of our university. It is a critical issue that could bring crisis and decline to education, economy, and various fields in the Incheon region."
◆ University side: "Cannot accept... even the reasons for deductions are undisclosed"
Comparison of the 3rd Cycle Basic Competency Diagnosis Preliminary Results and Other Evaluation Results. / Photo by Inha University Student Council
The Inha University side also expressed that they cannot accept the results.
Jeon Seung-hwan, president of the Inha University Student Council, stated, "We scored about 45 out of 45 in quantitative evaluation, but received 67.00 out of 100 in the qualitative evaluation category of 'curriculum operation and improvement.' In contrast, in 2017, we scored 92.77 in this category. However, the Ministry of Education has not disclosed the reasons, so students cannot accept this."
He added, "Our strengths are proven by being ranked first in the ACE+ project performance and receiving an A grade in the University Innovation Support Project. Is this truly a fair evaluation?" He appealed, "We are not even able to identify the cause of the deductions. Unlike other evaluation indicators, the reason why only the '3rd cycle curriculum operation and improvement' section was deducted is becoming more mysterious the more we review the data."
According to the president's statement released the day before (the 18th), "Inha University has obtained institutional evaluation accreditation from the Korean Council for University Education and received an A grade in the Ministry of Education's University Innovation Support Project evaluation," adding, "We have proven the excellence of our undergraduate education system by conducting the ACE project and have been selected for a nationwide top-tier project in the 4th phase BK21+ project," and announced that they will file an objection.
◆ "Change is because of us"... Students' hashtag campaign
Meanwhile, the momentum continued from the Incheon Metropolitan City citizen petition to a social media hashtag campaign titled '#ByeonhwaneunUriloInhayeo' (#ChangeIsBecauseOfUs). This campaign generated over 1,000 posts in just one day.
The card news posted by students with the hashtag, titled "Questions about the University Basic Competency Diagnosis," demands disclosure of the qualitative evaluation differences between passing and failing universities, expresses disbelief despite high employment rates at large corporations, and raises questions about the sharp drop in evaluation scores for curriculum operation and improvement between the 2nd and 3rd cycles.
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
