Ewha Advanced IT Education Center’s (AITEC) high fee for computer program courses for the Microsoft Office Specialist (MOS) Certification Program is becoming a hindrance for students taking the courses. Several other universities located in Seoul, the MOS classes are provided more cheaply to their university students by the local academies.
The course, “MOS OFFICE 2003,” is a preparation course for the MOS certification exam, which can be approved as three credits at Ewha. The MOS certification includes four different sections: Microsoft’s Excel, Word, Power Point, and Access Outlook. The MOS OFFICE 2003 classes held at AITEC contain all four courses. However, to achieve three full credits at Ewha, students must pass three exams: Excel, Word, and Power Point. For each course, students need to attend classes which are 80,000 won for each Excel and Word, and 70,000 won for Power Point. In addition, students need to pay to take exams: 47,000 won for Excel and Word respectively, and 37,000 won for Power Point. In total, it takes 361,000 won at least in order to take class and take the exam to acquire the certification with the program ran by AITEC.
In several universities located in Seoul, the MOS classes are provided in cheaper prices for the university students. At Chungang University, Hanyang University, Korea University, and Kyunghee University, the student bodies contacted with the local computer academies and agreed to provide a combination MOS course, which teaches all three subjects at cheaper prices of around 150,000 won with text books provided. As with taking the exams, exam fee is 58,000 won for Excel and Word respectably, and 48,000 won for Power Point. In total, it takes about 314,000 won to take class and exam to acquire the certificate, which is cheaper than Ewha.
Lee Youn-hee, the administrator of AITEC, pointed out the inappropriateness in comparing the education center with other local computer academies.
"Instead of teaching only the questions and answers to simply pass the exams, the education center focuses on teaching practical skills to students so that they can deal with the Microsoft Office programs," said Lee. AITEC also provides students free course re-takings after failing to achieve the certification.
Also, students tend to misconceive the fact that the educators at AITEC are teachers from academies. “The teachers at the AITEC are the exclusive teachers who only teach at AITEC,” added Lee.