Up until now, professors were encouraged to make up lessons but they could decide the dates for extra classes.
According to the Office of Faculty and Academic Affairs (OFAA), the school will enforce the makeup lesson by setting a new schedule. The change of the system is applied on Chuseok, Korean Thanksgiving Day, the National foundation Day and Hangul Proclamation Day.
Ewha will set a new week-day schedule by replacing Dec. 10, 11, 12, 15, 16 with Sept. 8, 9, 10, Oct. 3 and 9 respectively.
According to OFAA the change was made following the examination on academic affairs of universities conducted by the Ministry of Education (MOE).
Supplementary lecture was brought out as a measure to the lack of lesson hour which the MOE pointed out.
Students showed mixed reaction toward the change. Some think that due to substitute holiday system which is newly implemented this year, the change is reasonable to follow the school curriculum.
“I agree with the school’s intention to guarantee students’ right on catching up lessons which is for profound understanding on the course,” Jin Na-yoon (Journalism, 2) said.
However, some students expressed complaints on the late notification from the school to both students and professors.
“I was aware of the change only few days after the syllabus was uploaded online,” Seo Hye-jin (Politics & Diplomacy, 3) said.
Moreover, students are worried about final examination period. As exams for major courses are usually scheduled from Dec. 10 to 16, supplementary lessons made on Dec. 10 to 16 will confuse students and professors regarding the exam dates.
“Considering the fact that the change in the schedule is applied on this semester, the school should have given us a quick notice,” Seo said. “Then professors could have decided suitable dates for final exams before the beginning of this semester.”
Lee Yoon-soo
yoonpamom@ewhain.net