Colleges shrink student bodies starting with freshmen

An empty university classroom in Seoul [YONHAP]

Some 16,000 places for university and community college freshmen will be eliminated by 2025 as the country’s population keeps shrinking.

That’s about 3.4 percent of the total number of freshman spots available today.

Most of the places will be in schools outside the Seoul metropolitan area: Seoul, Incheon and Gyeonggi.

Nearly half will be from four-year universities and the other half from two-year community colleges.

The Ministry of Education announced the news Thursday, saying that 96 universities and colleges have agreed with the ministry’s suggestion to slash freshmen slots in return for financial aid.

In all, the schools have agreed to get rid of 16,197 places: 55 four-year universities will shrink them 7,991 and 41 two-year community colleges will slim down by 8,206.

Twenty-two schools in the Seoul metropolitan area will chop 1,953 slots, about 12 percent, while 74 schools outside the greater Seoul area will get rid of 14,244 slots, 88 percent.

In return for the curtailments, the Education Ministry said it would provide the schools with 140 billion won ($100 million) worth of financial aid, with schools reducing the most spots receiving the highest amount of aid.

Nearly 120 billion won will go to schools outside the greater Seoul area. Four-year universities will receive 100 billion won and two-year community colleges will get 40 billion won.

The Education Ministry’s announcement came a day after Seoul education authorities said there will be 115 new job openings for public elementary school teachers next year, which is nearly half the number of positions opened this year and a tenth of the number a decade ago.

The shrinking student population was blamed for the fewer hires.

The number of kindergarteners and elementary-through-high-school students has shrunk from an approximate 8.55 million in 2000 to 5.88 million this year, a nearly 30-percent drop.

Education union workers condemned the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education’s plan to hire fewer new teachers next year, arguing that more teachers are needed to reduce the student-per-teacher ratio and guarantee better education.

After the Covid-19 pandemic, more teachers are needed to help students catch up, they said.

Across the nation, 3,561 new public elementary school teachers are planned to be hired next year, 197 fewer openings, or 5.2 percent less, than this year’s hires.

Gyeonggi and Jeju Island were the only regions planning to hire more teachers than this year.

Korea has the lowest total fertility rate in the world. Last year, the figure stood at 0.81, down from 2020’s 0.84, the sixth straight year of decline.

A total fertility rate of at least 2 is needed to sustain a country’s population.

Some 260,600 babies were born in 2021, but at the current rate, the government believes the country could see fewer than 250,000 born this year. That’s nearly half the number of babies born in 2003.

BY LEE SUNG-EUN [lee.sungeun@joongang.co.kr]