In the “University General Assessment” performed by the Korean Council for University Education (KCUE), a national advisory body for universities with 4-year degree programs, KU received 496.7 points out of a possible 500, putting it in first place among all of the universities assessed.

The KCUE assessed 61 universities and one newly founded university in terms of general assessment as well as eight specific categories. The general assessment comprised six categories: (1) Business Administration and Finance, (2) Development Strategy and Vision, (3) Education and Social Services, (4) Research and Cooperation of Industry, (5) University Research (6) Students, Faculty, and Staff, (7) Educational Conditions and (8) Support System.

The KCUE declared, “KU ranked superior in every category,” and “the learning activities of students, the support system, and the administration service satisfaction scores were high. The business administration of the university and the educational conditions were excellent; however, the committee noted that there were too many students for each full-time faculty member, and that the number of adjunct instructors, relative to full time instructors was too high.”

The KU Department of Japanese Language and Literature in the Japanese Literature category and the Graduate School of KU in the Graduate Schools category were assessed as among the “Best”.

< Dong-A Ilbo >

In the General Assessment, performed by the Korean Council for University Education (KCUE), KU scored 496.7 out of a possible 500 points and received a first-place ranking. Along with KU, Kyunghee, Sungkyunkwan, Sookmyung Women’s, Ulsan, Choongang (including the Seoul and Ansung campuses) and Hankook University of Foreign Studies were selected as the highest-ranking universities.

The KCUE announced the results of the 2005 University General Assessment and scholastic evaluations for 62 universities in the various categories.

Not all universities are assessed in a given year. It is the responsibility of the KCUE to select those universities for assessment, and this year, they selected 62 institutions. Some universities were excluded, because they had previously been assessed. These included Sogang, Yonsei, Ewha Woman’s, and Hanyang Universities. Seoul National University refused to participate in the assessment.

Six categories were assessed: (1) Business Administration and Finance, (2) Development Strategy and Vision, (3) Education and Social Services, (4) Research and Cooperation of Industry, University and Research; (5) Students, Faculty, and Staff; and (6) Educational Conditions and Support System.

Along with the general assessment, individual scholastic categories were also evaluated.

In the Korean Literature category, Hannam University was selected as the top-ranking university. However, other major universities, including Seoul, Korea, and Yonsei Universities did not submit their assessment reports and were, therefore, excluded from the assessment. KU and Hanyang University (Ansan Campus) in the Japanese Literature category, Soongsil University in the Chinese Literature category, and Seoul University in the Agriculture category achieved the highest standings.

General Assessment

The University Assessment was performed once during the period from 1994 to 2000, and the second assessment period began in 2001. Universities may apply for the assessment if they meet certain conditions.

KU achieved top rankings in both the general assessment and in the evaluations for the various categories. KU ranked first, scoring 496.7 points. Clearly, the university reform efforts, following the inauguration the President Eoh, Yoon-Dae, had a positive influence on these successful results.

The KCUE said, “KU was rated as superior in every category,” and “the learning activities of the students, the support system, and the administration’s service satisfaction scores were high. The university’s business administration and the educational conditions were excellent. However, it was noted that there were too many students per full-time faculty member, and that the dependency on adjunct instructors, rather than full time faculty was slightly high.”

Kyunghee, Sungkyunkwan, and Choongang Universities placed 2nd, 3rd, and 4th, respectively.

Sungkyunkwan University had an excellent score in the category of Development Strategy and Vision, and it received a high score in Research Capability. The rankings were also high in the categories of Education Cost per Student and Transfer Funds from the corporation.

Both the Seoul and Ansung campuses of Choongang University received an excellent rating. Kyunghee University ranked high in the categories of Curriculum and Education Support System. It was noteworthy that in the evaluation of the Hankook University of Foreign Studies, it had achieved the ranking of “Best” university.

Evaluation in individual scholastic category
Eight scholastic categories were evaluated, including Korean Literature, Japanese Literature, Chinese Literature, Agriculture, Veterinary Medicine, Pharmacology, Physical Training, and Dancing. In the Korean Literature category, Hannam University received good scores in the categories of Curriculum and Student Guidance. This may have been influenced by the fact that many major universities did not submit their assessment reports.

In the Veterinary Medicine category, Konkook, Kyungsang, Seoul, Choongnam, and Choongbook Universities were all evaluated as “Excellent” universities, but no single university was singled out as “Best”. However, in the Pharmacology category, eight universities, including Kyunghee and Sookmyung Womens’s Universities were selected as “Best” universities, and Seoul University was categorized as “Excellent.”

Some alleged that the assessment is nominal because the KCUE did not publicize the actual raw scores for each university but rather ranked and reported the results in three categories: “Best,” “Excellent” and “Recognition."

The KCUE said, “Since it could foster the ordering of universities, we did not report the actual rankings,” but it was understood that the real reason because they were concerned about possible negative reactions from the assessed universities.

Seoul National University refused to undergo the general assessment saying, “We received a management diagnosis from McKinsey Consulting, and we will undergo an assessment when the Higher Education Assessment Center, run by the Ministry of Education and Human Resources, opens.” Many other universities also did not submit reports for some of their majors programs.

In response to SNU’s stance, the KCUE opined, “On the surface, that may appear to be the reason; however, most universities are concerned about publicizing their scores.

Reporter: Lee In-Chul inchul@donga.com
Reporter Shin Su-Jeong crystal@donga.com

< Chosun Ilbo>

Eight universities, including KU and Sungkyunkwan University ranked ”Best” Assessed by the KCUE
Seoul University did not participate. (Seoul University did not participate in the KCUE assessment.)

The Korean Council for University Education (KCUE), which is the Korean national governing body for universities with four-year degree programs, announced on the 16th, “As a result of the 2005 general assessment of 61 universities, Kyunghee, Korea (Seoul), Sungkyunkwan, Sookmyung Women’s, Ulsan, Choongang (Seoul), Choongang (Ansung), and Hankook University of Foreign Studies were the “Best” universities.”

Of the highest-ranking universities, KU received the highest score. Yonsei, Hanyang, and Ewha Woman’s were assessed last year and were, thus, excluded from this year’s assessment. In addition, Seoul University refused to participate in the assessment.

There were 19 “Excellent” universities, including Gangnam, Konkook (Choongjoo), Kyemyung, Gongjoo, Daejin, Donggook (Seoul), Myungji, Sangmyung (Seoul), Sangmyung (Chunan), Sunmoon, Sungshin Women’s, Sejong, Soonchunhyang, Soongsil, Presbyterian Seminary, Hankuk Aviation, Hannam, Hansei, and Hongik (Seoul) Universities.

In the Graduate School category, seven schools, including Kyunghee, Korea, Sangmyung, Sungkyunkwan, Sookmyung Women’s Choongang, and Hankook University of Foreign Studies were assessed as “Best” schools.
In the case of individual scholastic evaluations, only Hannam University was evaluated as the “Best” university in the Korean Literature category. In the Japanese Literature category, KU and Hanyang (Ansan) University were judged the “Best” among 56 undergraduate programs, and in the Chinese Literature category, Soongsil University was assessed as the “Best” among 60 undergraduate programs. In the Pharmacology category, eight universities, comprised of 20 undergraduate programs, were rated “Best” universities. These were Kyunghee, Daegu Catholic, Sungkyunkwan, Sookmyung, Youngnam, Ewha Woman’s, Chosun, and Choongang Universities.

Former students of the Director of Goguryeo Research Foundation, Kim, Jung-Bae, who retired last August after serving in a variety of academic positions including President of Korea University, wrote a commemorative, ‘Introduction to the Ancient History of Korea’ (published by Sinseowon) to honor their mentor’s retirement and held a publication ceremony at Anam Hall in the Korea University Alumni Center on the 20th. At the party, 200 well-wishers attended, including colleagues, seniors and juniors, and former students.

Director Kim as well as 32 former students participated in writing the book and published 3 volumes on 40 major issues of Korean ancient history. Director Kim is well recognized for his scholarship in integrating history and archaeology.

One of his former students, Professor Choi, Gwang-sik of Korea University said, “we made an introduction instead of a collection of papers to better help the academic world,” explaining, “The meaning of this book is to organize the research fruits of Korean ancient history and to point out future research tasks and directions.”

Director Kim revealed his aspirations: “I think this book works as a rudder to correct the Northeast ambitions of China and Japan’s distorted history textbooks” and concluded, “although I left the university, I feel confident because of my juniors.”


Donga Ilbo