Exchanging comfortable seats among themselves

The role of the secretary general at 27 national universities is to oversee their budgeting, operating and staffing. The seat has long been reserved for senior government employees of grade 2 or 3 from the Ministry of Education. Officials of the ministry preferred the office, as the work is less rigorous than in the ministry. The presidential transition team recommended open recruitment for the post to help strengthen the independence of national universities.

But what the JoongAng Ilbo has discovered dumbfounds us. The position was opened to outsiders, but the seat at 13 out of 27 national universities went to government officials from ministries other than the education ministry. The revolving-door practice in officialdom suggests the education reform driven by President Yoon Suk Yeol failed in the face of resistance of education bureaucrats. Those universities had to accept senior officials from non-education ministries. The education ministry said that the personnel relocation was based on their expertise. For instance, an official from the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries was assigned to the seat of the secretary general at Korea Maritime & Ocean University; an official from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport to Korea National University of Transportation; and an official from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to Korea National Sports University. Officials from other offices could add synergy effect, the ministry said. Really?

When he was a professor, Lee Ju-ho, deputy prime minister for education, criticized the education ministry for trying to control national universities by treating them as its affiliated organizations. He even urged the Yoon administration to free universities from the ministry’s influence to let them better adapt to the fourth industrial revolution and digital transition. But during the confirmation hearing, Lee said that his position was not to break up the ministry but to give universities more freedom. Would seating senior officials from different offices in the post of secretary general at national universities really give more freedom to universities?

The idea of dismantling the education ministry itself has long been floated due to its inabilities. As presidential candidates in 2017, Moon Jae-in and Ahn Cheol-soo proposed to break up or scrap the ministry. Without self-correcting actions, the ministry can re-invite the talk anytime. Universities must not degenerate into an institution where government officials can move at their convenience. Instead, they must serve as the base for the fourth industrial revolution. The president must remember his pledge to liberalize colleges and ensure their sovereignty to breed creative talents by establishing a bureau for university reform inside the ministry.