Community College Students Become Eligible for BA Classes

Community colleges will be allowed to offer bachelor degrees to students who complete intensive courses in a plan to be introduced next year. These courses will only be offered to 20 percent of new students admitted to each college starting next year.

The Ministry of Education and Human Resources Development (MEHRD) announced yesterday that it would present a revised Enforcement Decree for the Higher Education Act, which allows schools to offer intensive courses. This is a follow-up to the new Higher Education Act that was revised July 13.

Starting from the 2008 school year, community colleges will be allowed to admit 20 percent of their new students as intensive course majors and, on the department level, will be allowed to offer 100 percent of all new students intensive courses based on the characteristic of each department.

Those who complete the same majors in other colleges or have equivalent degrees, or have more than one year of experience in relevant industries will be eligible for the courses.

To obtain a bachelor degree, two-year majors have to take the courses over two years, and three-year majors have to take the courses over a span of more than one year and successfully complete a designated number of credits.

To prevent the reckless establishment of the courses, the qualifications of schools will be screened by the MEHR with a focus on the full-time professor-student ratio, the available space for education, and the school’s plan for operating these courses.

In addition, the MEHRD announced that the curriculum, types of degrees, criteria, course period, and number of credits will be set by the schools, and that for graduation, students must obtain at least 140 credits.

A source from the MEHRD said that, “In order to guarantee the quality of programs, the schools which meet a certain level of qualifications will be allowed to offer the courses,” adding, “This plan was designed to differentiate courses offered by community colleges from those of universities by stressing student working-level knowledge and industry experience.”

kky@donga.com