Humanities deans slam proposal to increase undecided major students

Kang Chang-uh, head of the Association of Humanities Deans of National Universities, far right, speaks during a press conference on Wednesday.

Humanities deans condemned the Ministry of Education's plan to encourage universities to select more undecided major students, saying the not-so-lucrative or unpopular majors will get neglected by students.

"The Education Ministry's plan intends to offer more choices to students, but it is unclear if that will be the case considering how students have a strong preference toward the popular majors," said Kang Chang-uh, head of the Association of Humanities Deans of National Universities and a professor teaching at Seoul National University's college of humanities.

"Rather than students choosing majors they really want to pursue, there is a very big chance that they will only choose popular majors."

Kang gathered with nine representatives from the Association of Humanities Deans of National Universities and the Association of Humanities Deans of Private Universities to hold a press conference on Wednesday.

The representatives called for the Education Ministry to stop its plan to fund universities that increase the number of students they accept as undecided majors.

According to a draft of the University Innovation Support Project plan, universities must submit plans to admit five percent of their incoming class as undecided majors in 2025 to get the funding.

Universities permit students to select a major within their designated academic discipline and if they admit 20 percent of students as undecided majors, they become eligible for funding.

The plan is only a draft, but will be finalized around February.

The representatives also claimed the timeline of the plan is too rushed.

"We are already approaching the end of January, but the Education Ministry hasn't given us any specific plans or how they plan to minimize the possible side effects," Kang said. "But universities will have to announce plans that include changes to undecided student quotas very soon, admitting them starting March next year."

BY LEE TAE-HEE [lee.taehee2@joongang.co.kr]