The College of Economics and Management is in a big trouble of a professor shortage. Become the conditions for basic course quality are not satisfied the College of Economics and Management students have struggled for their educational rights since May. However, President Song's inappropriate language and attitude in the meeting with the College of Economics and Management students council have become a controversy and we cannot find a way to solve the problem. It is not only our university's problem. many other university's students also are not guaranteed their educational rights. Do you really understand your university course's actual condition?
★ Professor Shortage
As 'The professor promotion committee' began preparing on May 6th, the, professor problem was an important item on the agenda. The committee was set up to address the shortage of professors in the College of Economics and Management. The scarcity of professors in the College of Economics and Management has reached a serious level. In the case of the College of Humanities and the College of Social Science, the number of student, is a few over 20 per professor, but the number of students is over 50 to 1 in the College of Economics and Management. This figure is far higher than other universities' Colleges of Economics and Management, which average about 20 to 1. In addition, when it comes to adding the number of Colleges of Economics and Management double majors, the number of students approaches three thousand. As a result, the number of students to professors increases as well. According to the College of Economics and Management students council, the average ratio in Chungnam National university is 31.30 students per one national university professor, but our student's ratio is 55.60 in the College of Economics and Management. As a result the College of Economics and Management students have formed an emergency committee.
"The shortage of professors is not only a problem in our university, but also other universities. Dong-A university, located in Busan, also has a problem. Every semester, Dong-A university is in chaos when students register for courses. Students stay up all night the day before sign up day in the computer room. Number cards are distributed to a lot of students who try to register for courses. The major cause of this chaos is a shortage of professors. The number of students is 40.1 per professor in Dong-A university. Although part-time lecturers, visiting professors and adjunct professors teach courses, the number of professors is still not enough.
According to the educational statistics published by the Ministry of education & Human Resources Development in 2002, the ratio of students to professors in a four year college course is about 40 to 1. This figure was about 2.6 times larger than the ratio for high schools. Teaching staff has increased by 18,000 compared to last year, but there has only been an increase of 868 professors in four-year college courses. Ultimately, the shortage of professors is not confined to individual campuses, but many universities can be affected by this. Without increasing teaching staff proportionate to student demand, educational rights will not be guaranteed and the problem can not be solved.
The College of Law students at Chungnam University are also having difficulty finding professors. In the College of Law many professors, have transferred co law school, so the number of professors is insufficient. The percentage of professors is decreasing year by year and therefore part-time instructors are filling the vacancy. The ratio of full professors to part-time instructors is about 3 to 7. Although there are a lot of part-time lecturers who are competent at teaching, we cannot ignore the difference between tenured professors and part-time lecturers. The depth of responsibility for a part-time instructor and a professor is significantly different and the quality of education provided by part-time lecturers is poot compared to a full-time professor. As the college of law was abolished at the end of 2008, the problem of having tenured professors will never be solved.
★ A Problem with Professor's Attitude
The shortage of professors is not the only problem that universities are faced with. When a professor with deep academic knowledge and ability gives a lecture in a university he or she is respected and has people's trust. Although there are a lot of professors who try to deliver thinking skills and knowledge, it is also true that there are professors who do not fulfill their responsibilities. This kind of attitude and work ethic sometimes brings dishonor to the university and lowers the educational standard.
Last semester, student K, who is attending University J, could noc help being shocked by the professors attitude while she was taking a cultural class. She said thai the professor made sexual comments to students without hesitation after looking ar women on the screen during class. Moreover, the professor told students that if they give a high mark on the course evaluation, he would add extra points to those students' scores. Consequently, grades between student who gave a high marks to the professors and students who did not were significantly different.
Furthermore, student C who is in our university said there are many problems with professors' attitudes in class. Professors K who is in the Department of Electrical Engineering did not turn up to class several times without notice and it is a common thing for teaching assistants to announce that class is canceled just before the class. These things have continued until the end of the semester, and about half of the semester passed this way. There were no makeup lessons for missed classes.
Professors' attitudes; making dirty jokes, teaching that has no connection with the lecture, being late for class, canceling class without any announcement and teaching that is irrelevant to the class syllabus is becoming a serious problem.
★ Violating the Right to Education
The university is violating the right to education. The humanities building construction that has been under construction since August, 2009 is causing a lot of trouble. As the humanities building construction was not announced in advance, Humanities classes that could not find alternative lecture rooms were canceled for two weeks. There were few students who had proper makeup lessons because of construction. A vacuum of two weeks caused the number of days of classes to be shortened and it disrupted students' learning. Furthermore, loud noises from the construction caused an inconvenience to the students and students' health were threatened by the removal of asbestos that was part of humanities building construction project. While proper administrative duties were not carried out well, construction started. As a result, this project generated controversy over the students' right to education and safety. As the humanities building construction will continue until September 2010, it will continue to cause a disruption to students.
Although the professor shortage became a problem a long time ago, it shows no signs of being solved. A University Administration that does not dedicate itself to solving problems is to blame for these situation. The College of Economic and Management student council began a sit-in protest, Issued a statement, and submitted a request at the 'Tic a Ribbon Campaign' and 'Action Day' ar the beginning of the May, but the University Administration gave only a callous response. In the meeting with President Song, the student president claimed that there were Poor conditions in the College of Economics and Management, but President Song did not say a word and asked why the University Administration has to find a solution for the professor shortage problem. Also the vice-provost, Myung Jae-jin kept repeating that there is no solution to the shortage of professors problem. In the present state, the University Administration promised that if the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology permits an increase the number of professor openings, the University Administration would give the first opportunity to the College of Economics and Management. However, they only made a verbal promise so we cannot be sure they will honor their promise.
★ About Course Evaluation
Course evaluations sim to make courses better by evaluation the semester's courses and the professors who taught those lectures. However, there has been a lot of controversy about whether course evaluations perform their function properly or not.
According to the department of academic affairs, course evaluations are conducted in complete confidence so that professors never know which student gives which assessment of their lecture. However, this course evaluation simply affects faculty achievement and influences promotion and the rehiring of the professor. There is no advice or warning to professors who perform poorly. Furthermore, an open system of course evaluation has not been adopted by many universities. Our university's course evaluations are available some extent, but full course evaluation materials are available to the university staff. Students cannot check even simple statistical data. In the end, course evaluation cannot be a perfect measure of a good quality course, but students want to see the reactions to the class.
★ Way to Go
Universities were founded to be the best educational institutions for purely academic endeavors. The president, Professors and university officials who work for the university must make an effort to manage the university's real objectives. However, we can find evidence of their effort in some instructors of Chungnam National University. Students' educational rights are being infringed upon and the basic educational system is not well-constructed. Furthermore, the president and professors' attitude towards the professor shortage and the manner in which they treat students roused disappointment and frustration in many students. At this point in time, we have to take that problem into consideration. As this problem is not yet solved, many people have to consider the matter carefully and try to continue die discussion.
By Ann Na-ri CP Reporter
ahn-nari@cnu.ac.kr