Retired Admissions Officers Prohibited from Employment and Running Tutoring Centers Within 3 Years... Approved by Cabinet Meeting

Amendments to Higher Education Act and Academy Establishment Act
Admission Officers Violating Regulations Face Fines Up to 10 Million Won

University admissions officers who have retired less than three years ago will be prohibited not only from establishing or working at private academies and admissions consulting firms but also from conducting private tutoring or running tutoring centers. Violations of this rule may result in imprisonment for up to one year or a fine of up to 10 million won.

On the 9th, the Ministry of Education announced that it reviewed and approved partial amendments to the "Higher Education Act" and the "Act on the Establishment, Operation, and Private Tutoring of Academies" at the Cabinet meeting and submitted them to the National Assembly.

The current Higher Education Act prohibits admissions officers from establishing or working at academies under the Academy Act (Article 2, Paragraph 1) for three years after retirement, and also prohibits them from establishing or working at firms specializing in admissions consulting regardless of their name.

The amendment prohibits retired admissions officers who have not passed three years since retirement from establishing or working at academies or admissions consulting firms, as well as from conducting private tutoring or operating tutoring centers. It also introduces penalty provisions imposing imprisonment of up to one year or fines of up to 10 million won for retired admissions officers who violate employment restrictions.

Photo by Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@

The amendment supplements the current system by invalidating notifications of tutoring center establishment, operation, or private tutoring reported by retired admissions officers. It also provides grounds for metropolitan and provincial superintendents of education to impose suspension of tutoring for up to one year or cancel academy registration on academies that employ retired admissions officers who have not passed three years since retirement as instructors or executives of academy corporations.

On the same day, the Ministry of Education also approved an amendment to the "Korea Teachers' Pension Act" that specifies the types of personally identifiable information handled by the Korea Teachers' Pension, aiming to resolve privacy infringement issues.