Most universities are still using regulations established during the 1970 and 80s, especially regarding student activities, according to a study by Professor Park Yong-bu (Sungkyunkwan University) published on August 8 in Korean Education, one of the Korean Educational Development Institute? quarterly magazines.
Out of 201 four-year universities in Korea, 119 universities had regulations restricting or prohibiting some student activities. Moreover, 77 universities had articles requiring prior approval of periodical publications released by student associations.
Universities that were established after 1990 adopted the regulations of existing universities, causing all universities to use nearly the same set of rules used in the past, without considering the specialty, size, or location of each university. For instance, article number 80 of Sungmin University, which was established in 2002, requires school approval for student activities using almost the same phrasing as article 58 of Choongbook University, which was established in 1951.
In contrast to regulations on student activities, regulations on grading systems, registration, and double majors take individual conditions at different universities into account.
Moreover, students?opinions are hardly reflected in the process of framing the school regulations. SGA president Lee Ji-youn (Sociology, 4) said, ?chool regulations are enacted for the purpose of providing guidelines to students?school lives and are applied to students, not professors or faculties. Nevertheless, the fact that students are still being excluded from the process of enactment is hard to understand.?Professor Park said, ?aintaining the obsolete school regulations internally, while crying for universities to compete freely is a contradiction.?In Ewha? case, there are four stages to undergo in order to change or establish a new school regulation. First, when there is a need to correct or issue a new regulation, the department concerned frames and submits a revision proposal to the planning department. Once the proposal is filed, the planning department examines it and presents it to the Regulation Committee for a deliberation, if it? appropriate. Then, the Academic Affairs Committee has to pass a resolution and finally, the president promulgates the regulation.