One month before every semester starts, university students feel nervous and agitated as they register for next semester’s courses. Each student has to take certain credits including compulsory lectures in order to graduate. Since not all students can take the courses that they want, it is stressful when the registration comes. The decreasing number of courses adds students’ registration difficulties; this, of course, includes Korea University (KU) students.

To graduate, KU students have to take at least a certain number of credits which differs by their majors. They mostly take lectures related to their majors as well as general education courses. General education courses are divided into core general education and elective general education. Each department requires different number of credits and different type of courses for the students to take mandatorily for their graduation.

 

   
▲ A graph clearly illustrates that the number of general education courses dropped compared to the past 11 years. Provided by facebook.com/korea47

There is a large number of elective general education courses so KU students do not have much problem finding which course to take. Core general education courses are what make the KU students feel stressed. Currently, there are seven types of core general education courses; world cultures, historical investigation, literature and arts, sociological studies, quantitative research, ethics and ideas and science and technology.

Status Quo and Changes of Core General Education Courses

The biggest problem regarding the core general education course is that the total number of the courses is diminishing significantly. From 2004 to 2009, more than 100 courses were offered for students to take. In 2011, however, the institution that managed general education courses which was a separate organization in KU was downgraded to the office of general education. Consequently, office of general education became a part of the entire office of academic affairs. This implies that the office of general education loses its independency and it cannot proceed the work effectively.

Due to this organizational makeover, there were changes in faculty members as well as the number of the courses. In 2011, there were 99 core general education courses, which decreased to 92 in 2012, 76 in 2013 and 61 in 2014. Cho Hee Sung (’13, Business School) said, “I was surprised to see that there are not many choices for me to choose from the core general education courses when I was laying out my schedule. It seems like the half of the lectures disappeared compared to the past.” Considering the fact that there were more than 100 courses in the past, having only 61 courses definitely shows how it can affect the KU students significantly.

How the Office of General Education Took Action

In order to solve this situation, the Korea University Student Association (KUSA) or so called Goggam Godae has been continuously asking the office of general education to expand the number of courses for students. To reduce the complaints from KUSA and KU students, the office announced in 2010 that they were going to allow 16 different types of elective general education courses to be counted as the core general education courses. They added the condition that only one out of the 16 elective general education courses could be counted for fulfilling the core general education course requirement throughout the whole college life.

   
▲ A student perplexed by the small number of courses that are opened for the next semester. Provided by chunchu.yonsei.ac.kr

In terms of expanding the number of courses, the office replied that they were planning to open 120 core general education courses for the second semester of 2014. However, it turned out that they only added 61 courses which aroused students’ discontentment. The office justified its action by declaring that 120 courses was simply a goal. Lee Ji Eun (’13, Division of International Studies) responded to such office’s attitude, “I cannot understand why the office is offering so small number of core general education lectures to students. I think the office is not considering students’ situation of having hard time taking core general education courses.”

 

   
▲ The chart shows that total 18 courses decreased in 2013 compared to 2012. Provided by news.unn.net

Seeing consistent dissatisfaction from the students, the office decided to reduce the compulsory core general education credits which was 12 credits to nine credits. Such a solution seems to contradict the core value of taking general education courses. Gonggam Godae Planning Division official said, “The main reason why the KU is asking students to take core general education courses is to learn about various fields such as culture, history and natural science. Just reducing the credits will not simply solve the essence of the problem.”

What Needs To Be Done

Gonggam Godae believes that full-time professors need to teach the core general education lectures more to enlarge the number of the courses. KUSA said, “The main reason why there is a decreasing number of core general education courses is that a small number of full-time professors are taking responsibility for the courses. The office needs to continuously contact with the professors to solve the situation.”

 

It might take time for the office of general education to solve the situation completely. However, what is important is that the office should not try to solve the problem by suggesting the options for students instead of tackling the problem directly. There needs to be active communication between the office and the professors, KUSA and KU students to enlarge the number of core general education lectures.

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