Fight school irregularities

Inspection needs to help private universities raise transparency

The Ministry of Education has begun conducting a general inspection of 16 major private universities over widespread allegations that they might have engaged in serious irregularities. This inspection is part of President Moon Jaein's efforts to eradicate embezzlement and accounting fraud at certain schools.

The 16 universities have more than 6,000 students each and have never been fully inspected since their establishment. They include such prestigious schools as Yonsei, Korea, Kyung Hee and Sogang.

The planned inspection will focus on discovering whether the schools have committed irregularities in accounting, faculty recruitment and management of entrance exams. However, it is still doubtful if the government can win its fight against corrupt school founders and operators who unabashedly regard their universities as their piggy banks and a means to make personal gain.

But it is noteworthy that the education ministry will mobilize 15 "citizen inspectors," chosen from lawyers, accountants and other experts with backgrounds in education and auditing. These citizen inspectors are the first of their kind in Korea to help break deep-rooted corrupt relations between education officials and private school operators.

The inspection was ordered after the ministry and the Board of Audit and Inspection (BAI) detected 1,367 cases of irregularities at 293 private schools with appropriated funds amounting to 262.4 million won ($2.19 billion).

However, the inspection raises a key question: "What have the education ministry and related authorities been doing up to now?" The ministry has come under criticism for doing nothing to curb wrongdoings taking place at private universities even though they receive a combined 7 trillion won ($5.83 billion) in annual financial support from the government.

Private schools' budgets usually come from tuition fees and government subsidies. Therefore, the inspection this time should be conducted in a way to help raise the transparency of spending at the universities and prevent misappropriation by school owners and operators.

The government must cut down on all subsidies to schools that are found to have engaged in irregularities. It also needs to revise the Private School Act to effectively crack down on rampant wrongdoing at higher learning institutions. However, these measures should not hurt autonomy in school operations.