Bill Incorporates National Colleges

The Ministry of Education and Human Resources Development will make a special bill and submit it to the National Assembly within the year for the corporation of national universities. The Education Ministry plans to first allow the universities that want to convert to a corporation, and then by 2010, along with Seoul National University and newly established schools such as Ulsan University and Incheon Municipal University, it plans to corporate about five universities.

According to the special bill regarding the establishment and management of national universities’ corporation that the Education Ministry released on September 29, national universities that become a corporation will be free of state regulations and will be able to independently decide on personnel, accounts and systems-related issues. This means that a university would be able to decide on matters such as the employment and wages of faculty, student tuition fees and the disposition of property. At national universities that are corporate, new organizations will be established with a new chief director and board of directors, auditors and review board. The chief director will be decided by the board of directors, who will be the highest decision making authority.

In order to discuss the special bill, the Ministry of Education planned to hold a public hearing at the Appeal Commission for Teachers in Samcheong-dong, Seoul on September 29, but it was deterred by the Korean Government Employees’ Union and the national and public university professors association. It may become difficult to pass the special bill within the year if there are further setbacks in the legislation process due to such opposition.

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