Abolition Of Academic Background Information On Civil Servant Application Form

On the upcoming National Civil Servant Exams, such as the five, seven, and nine levels , the entry asking for one’s academic background will be removed.

The Civil Service Commission stated on Sunday that “we have decided to discard any influences of subjective preconception from the examinee’s academic level and graduate school that might affect the decision of the examinee’s acceptance or rejection, thereby selecting people based on their talent by getting rid of the entry of one’s academic background.”

Furthermore, the Civil Service Commission said, “We decided to discard the submission of school registers and academic records from candidates who passed the written examination prior to their interviews.”

As putting down one`s academic background is out for all National Civil Servant exams, it is expected to affect most public enterprises. In the case of public enterprises, Agricultural and Fishery Marketing Corporation (AFMC) and Korea Land Corporation (KOLAND) have already discarded the entry question asking for one’s academic background from their application forms.

A Civil Service Commission official said, “It is a measure to overthrow academic favoritism which is a societal chronic disease by the government. I hope this spreads to the removal of academic background entries in society in general, including private enterprises.”

Jong-Hoon Lee taylor55@donga.com