Even before the first shovel-ready of support for Glocal University is opened, the backlash from students is severe. This is because student opinions must be reflected in the integration process between Pusan National University (PNU) and Busan National University of Education (BNUE), according to the project's premise.

On the 17th of May, BNUE decided to jointly support the "Glocal University 30 (Glocal University)" project with PNU at the faculty meeting. BNUE decided to jointly apply for full-fledged integration, but all students at BNUE refused to attend classes for two days on the 24th and 25th, causing resistance from university members. 

■BNUE refuses to take classes, saying, "Ban the integration."

BNUE students went on a full-scale shutdown as an expression of opposition. Bang In-Seong (Dept. of Ethics Education, 21), the chair of BNUE's Emergency Measures Committee, announced at a press conference on May 23rd, "We will show the will of students to faculty who ignore students," and declared the class suspension of the entire student union on the 24th and 25th. The BNUE's Emergency Measures Committee is preparing for additional responses both inside and outside the school and announced plans to submit their opinions to the Busan city on the 31st of this month, the deadline for the Glocal University project support after receiving signatures from citizens.

The biggest reason for objection is that they did not listen to the students' opinions. According to the students of BNUE, the university headquarters of BNUE promised to provide five offline meetings and online communication channels at the “opinion exchange meeting on the development plan of BNUE” in November of last year, but it has yet to progress. Instead, it is said that after discussions on integration resumed with the joint support of Glocal University, it was passed on the 17th only after a unilateral announcement was made on May 3rd. Park Hong-Hyeong (Dept. of Social Studies Education, 23, BNUE) pointed out that "we know that the integration itself is unavoidable due to the trend of the times, but the problems are the one-sided notice and that the school continues to ignore it despite students' opposition." Chair Bang also said, "Even if the support for the Glocal University project is postponed to next year or the year after, there must be enough explanation so that the students can fully judge."

The support for the Glocal University project itself needs to be more credible. It means the budget received when selecting a project is only partially used for educational innovation. Since the Glocal University project is promoted based on "breaking down the internal and external walls" of the university, there is concern about the possibility that the walls of the kindergarten, elementary, and middle (special education) school teacher training courses will also be demolished in the future. Chair Bang pointed out, "If you look at the materials of the faculty meeting, the budget of about 150 billion won when selecting the Glocal University project is focused on simple building extensions and overseas training. There is no intention to use it for innovation in education systematically."

BNUE students are currently acting as the final goal of failing to designate the Glocal University business. It is expected that student resistance will not be ignored as the consensus among university members and the will to communicate serve as a critical evaluation factor for the main designation of a Glocal university. Chair Bang said, "It is an insufficient response to change the agenda itself and break the will of the school headquarters, but our movement will burden the Ministry of Education."

■What about PNU students?

PNU students are also in a position where they cannot welcome this integration. According to the “An on-campus Opinion Survey on the Integration of PNU and BNUE,” conducted by "Channel PNU" from May 22nd to 24th (571 participants), 73.7% (421 students) oppose the integration decision. In addition, 77.9% (445 people) of the survey participants agreed that integration was unfavorable to PNU. In common, they noted that a large part of the budget obtained from the Glocal University project was used for BNUE and criticized, "It only benefits BNUE, and PNU and PNU students do not benefit at all." Student A at the College of Education said, "I am concerned about the decline in the quality of classes at the College of Education after moving the campus to Geoje-dong. Departments such as Physics Education and Chemistry Education need experimental facilities, and I wonder if the class environment provided by Busan Campus can be reproduced at BNUE."

There are also questions about whether the integration method has been adopted to be selected as Glocal universities. The Glocal University project itself is helpful, but it would have been selected even if it had not been integrated. In fact, 58.3% (333 people) of the survey participants agreed that the Glocal University project would be helpful to PNU, but 74.2% (424 people) answered that it would not have been a challenge to be selected for the project even if it had not been merged. In response, the Division of Planning and Evaluation of PNU explained in a phone call with "Channel PNU," "Even within PNU, merger between universities and convergence curriculum operations are considered as major directions, so integration is advantageous in the direction of long-term development."

The discussion of double majors is also a significant issue. BNUE proposed banning double majors for PNU students to qualify as elementary teachers as a condition for integration, but PNU has no plans to sanction it. In response, 51.3% (293 people) of the survey participants agreed that "BNUE students should be banned from general and double majors at PNU." They believe that for fairness, at least PNU's College of Education students should be allowed to major in double majors.

PNU's College of Education strongly demands that the university headquarters collect opinions from members. This is because there are extreme internal concerns and uneasiness due to relocation to the BNUE campus. Currently, the top priority is to disseminate information related to the Glocal University project and integration so that the students at the College of Education can recognize the problem and actively respond. Choi Yong-Kwon (Korean Language Education, 21), president of the Students' Association at the College of Education, said, "All students should be aware of the Glocal University project. It is necessary to think and express opinions for the development of all."

On the other hand, Kim Yo-Seop (Dept. of Korean Language Education, 20), president of the General Students' Association (GSA), said, "After the Glocal project briefing on the 24th, we will gather the opinions of the school and announce the official position of GSA," but so far, he has not come out with any official stance.

■Head Offices, "It is not an unfavorable integration."

The university headquarters said that this integration was not against us at all. Excluding the budget for the Glocal University project, which will be concentrated on BNUE, there is an integrated support budget between national universities and other government-subsidized facility costs, so it is possible to make sufficient investments in the Busan, Yangsan, and Miryang campuses. At the "Glocal University Project Promotion Briefing" hosted by the Office of Strategic Planning on the 24th, Jang Deok-Hyeon (Dean, Office of Strategic Planning), said, "The integration is rather advantageous to us. After the integration, the current BNUE Geoje-dong campus will become our university, so using Glocal University's budget is also an investment on ourselves."

However, mutual double majors are expected to be complicated. Considering the current situation in which the supply and demand of elementary teachers are unstable, school regulations can prohibit students from PNU from double majoring in elementary education. However, the Office of Planning explained that there is no basis for establishing school regulations in the opposite case.

Reporter Choi Sun-Woo

Translated by Choi Ye-Won