As the Dept. of German Language Education (GLE) and the Dept. of French Language Education (FLE) of Pusan National University (PNU) is on the verge of disappearing, students strongly protested that it is a “rushed reorganization” and a “fraud admission”.

On March 31st, PNU held a briefing session called "the 1st Academic Unit Restructuring" in the conference room of the university headquarters. They announced that it would merge GLE and FLE at the College of Education respectively into the Dept. of German Language & Literature and Dept. of French Language & Literature at the College of Liberal Arts. From 2024, the reorganized department will not recruit first-year undergraduate students but will be integrated into the humanities department after the expiration of the term. This constitution will be maintained until February 2030, considering the graduation period of the 2023 freshmen. If GLE and FLE of PNU are abolished, the number of universities with these two departments will be reduced to only four nationwide.

At the briefing session, the university headquarters cited the "decreasing school-age population" to restructure the department. Jang Deok-Hyeon, head of the Planning Department's "Academic Unit Structural Reorganization TF," said, "The university headquarters have been concerned about the (current) academic unit structure for years. We are responsible since PNU is a national university. However, there was difficulty in opening various courses such as advanced and detailed majors."

However, students criticized that there was no process of collecting their opinions. From September 2020, the TF team, which consists of professors, proposed a formal reorganization plan, and went through three teachers' meetings. However, there was no place to ask for opinions from the student council and surveys.

On the same day, students protested the consolidation of departments. Song Hyun-Young (22, Dept. of French Language Education), a freshman, said, "I am in school now, but it's 'fraud admission' to do this without properly informing us when recruited." Song Dong-Hee (20, Dept. of French Language Education) said, "It is unfair because the first-year students did not receive any information before admission. The right to learn includes learning with senior-junior relationships beyond simply taking major courses." Lee Yoon-Kwon (20, Dept. of French Language Education), the chairman of the FLE Department of the College of Education, said, "The process has been one-sided since we received the notice. We will investigate opinions from enrolled students and request an interview with the head of the teachers' office." The student council of the GLE also said they are seeking ways to reflect students' opinions after the briefing session.

According to PNU, this department's reorganization aims to strengthen students' competitiveness. However, the students refused the school's logic.

Park Soo-bin, the dean of the College of Living Environment (Dept. of Indoor Environment Design), who belonged to the initial TF at the briefing session, said, "Our students continue to accumulate after graduating from college. They don't take the teacher certification examination. So, the reorganization was a consideration to increase their competitiveness." However, this raised more controversy. Then Lee Jae-wan (20, Dept. of French Language Education) said, "We gain the competitiveness of schools rather than gaining competitiveness for students." Kim Jung-Mi (82, graduate of Dept. of German Language Education), who retired this year, also said, "The College of Education and the College of Liberal Arts are fundamentally different. Students who major in education should focus not on improving their language skills but on what to teach in school. It would rather be acceptable if they integrated into foreign language education."

It seems that the headquarters won't be able to avoid criticism about the failure to capture the sincere voices of students. Significantly, as it is an academic unit restructuring that started under the name of the "first period," the second and the third stages will also be restructured, and it is expected to have continuous impacts. Jeong Se-Yoon (18, Dept. of International Trade), the chairman of the emergency committee of the General Student Association, expressed concern. He said, "The General Student Association knew for the first time through the announcement of this briefing session. Collecting opinions is important in the future, but I didn't hear how to reflect them accurately."

Reporter Lee Chae-Hyeon

Translated by Shin Ji-Won