Formerly, senior students had to satisfy six conditions to successfully graduate and receive their bachelor’s degrees. Those include fulfilling eight semesters, obtaining credits required for graduation along with chapel credits, a total grade point average over 1.70, passing the required graduation test which varies depending on the major and registering for graduation during the designated applying period.
However, as companies in Korea tend to favor candidates who are still under college training at the time of job application, many senior students are delaying their graduation tests and are reluctant to submit applications for graduation. That is, they register zero credits each semester merely to stay as undergraduate students even though they do not need to take any additional courses. As a result, senior students undergo the inconvenience of issuing zero-credit notices and registering accordingly each semester. Also, the certificate of graduation arrangements were not available to those who have not yet registered for graduation.
Acknowledging such inconvenience, Ewha established the course completion system. Starting from this semester, senior students who have finished over seven semesters will now have four choices: registering for graduation or course completion, applying for a leave of absence or taking additional courses for a double major or minor along with English and information certificates. Specifically, students of course completion will not have to make additional registrations and instead are able to issue certificate of graduation arrangements whenever they need during the semester. Furthermore, the students will only have to pass their graduation test-graduation thesis, lab report, oral presentation or general graduation examination in order to receive a bachelor’s degree.
“At the moment, we are updating the Eureka system,” said Park Jee-in, an official from the Registrar. “As the updating is still in process, we have contacted senior students individually to introduce the completion course and ask their decision of graduation for this spring semester. Starting from next semester, students will be able to use Eureka for the course completion.”
Nevertheless, there are some students who question if the establishment of the new system will bring such a big change.
“I think that companies will still discriminate in favor of enrolling students,” Shin Seung-woo (Journalism, 4) said. “What should be changed is Korea’s hiring policies and atmosphere where only enrolling students are favored.”
Ewha Voice
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