On May 3rd, the Pusan National University (PNU) Branch of the Korean Irregular Professor Union is holding a tent sit-in protest for a month in front of our university. Since April 4th, five people have been in the place for seven hours in rotation. They are advocating for the "expansion on the size of instructors' open recruitment" and "transfer of right to open general elective courses to departments." They assert that increasing instructors' employment and returning the right to open general elective courses to the departments is directly linked to improving the educational environment and even to "extending the right to study."

The branch points out that an instructors' hiring crisis is a chronic problem that began in the 1990s and lasted for 30 years. The branch argues that PNU is not sufficiently employing full-time faculties with various majors. As of 2021, the PNU's rate of acquiring full-time instructors (based on enrolled students) is 85.9%, about 36% lower than Seoul National University's (121.81%). Lee Sang-Ryong, the head of the Korean Irregular Professor Union's PNU branch, said, "The reform of universities is an educational reform, and the principle of educational reform is securing the diversity in education, which comes from the diversity of faculties. We should secure instructors with diverse majors and backgrounds so that students can learn various knowledge and theories."

PNU, on the other hand, is passive, saying that it is gradually increasing the number of recruitments after the enforcement of the Instructor Act. According to the Administration, 1,038 instructors were hired in 2018, and in 2019, the first year of implementing open recruitment after enforcing the Instructor Act, 745 were hired. Even though the number of employments in 2019 decreased, we hired 925 this year and are moving back to the size before the enforcement of the Instructor Act. 

In response, the branch refutes that it is way too insufficient to secure the diversity of study and to maintain sustainability." Lee, the head of the PNU branch, said, "If the university cannot afford to employ full-time instructors necessary for running the departments, they should solve the lack of education and infringement of the learning right by increasing the proportion of instructors' recruitment. The policy of saving the personnel expenditure of the instructors will only advance the time of the university's collapse."

As the branch started the tent sit-in protest in April, they had an individual discussion with Cha Jeong-In, the president of PNU, Kim Jae-Sik, the head of the section of Academic Affairs, and Kim Eun-Ju, the head of the Ministry of Education. They delivered the requirements clearly, demanding the change. Lee said, "We felt like the University Administration showed a favorable response, but we cannot see any changes yet." The officials of the University Administration said, "The negation itself has to take place first. Nothing has been decided yet. Currently, there is no plan for open recruitment. If the department requests for open recruitment, most of it is accepted, and the announcement is made."

The outcry of those who claim, "expansion on the size of instructors' open recruitment" and "improvement in an educational environment" is expected to be prolonged. Lee said, "We are not simply asking for hiring more instructors. We are here to emphasize the social responsibility of what universities should do. In response to this movement, officials of the section of the Academic Affairs said, "We are planning to proceed with collective negotiation and have in-depth conversations on the union's requirements. We will fully engage in the negotiation."

Reporter Kim Hyeon-Hee

Translated by Lee Su-Hyun