Kyonggi University is divided into two campuses and every member of our school knows this well. In the past, the two campuses were administratively separate so they were in effect two different organizations. For example, there were student councils for each campus. However, in 2018, the student council of the Seoul campus, which is now combined with the student council of the Suwon campus, disappeared. Since then, the Seoul campus has had many problems, especially in the financial area. Although this area is the student’s most important consideration, discrimination has occurred. The Pharos will try to understand the situation the Seoul campus has experienced and figure out why these problems happened.

  First of all, we searched for information about the KGU+ scholarship, which was the hottest financial matter. Seoul campus students did not receive any KGU+ scholarships last semester. Before going deeper, the KGU+ scholarship is divided into A, B, C and D kinds and each kind has a separate purpose and qualification. It is given by departments, and it is given without any relationship to scholarships for good grades, so students are highly interested in the scholarship. The KGU+ scholarship is granted using the school’s budget, so it should be granted to students of both the Seoul and Suwon campuses because they are regulated by the same financial system. The school answered our inquiry about the KGU+ scholarship by saying the scholarship is granted with the remaining school budget and the Seoul campus spent that budget during the spring semester. This is why the Seoul campus students couldn’t receive any grants. If this was true, the KGU+ scholarship should have been granted more often before the spring semester, but it was not. Therefore, students still have doubts about this issue. The following is the Scholarship Support Team’s answer.

 Scholarship Support Team: Till last year, each campus had a separate financial system. The Suwon campus secured its budget for the KGU+ scholarship in advance. However, the Seoul campus gave it with the remaining budget after they awarded scholarships such as “Slug,” the “Scholarship for good grades” and “Mirae Job-kki.” Last semester, there were a lot of applicants for scholarships. This meant we were not able to grant the KGU+ scholarships to all students.

 The convenience of students of the Seoul campus is gradually diminishing. For example, the graduation ceremony was not held at the Seoul campus. As a result, students of the Seoul campus have appealed to the school regarding many complaints and their dissatisfaction with the Suwon campus. In addition, students from the Seoul campus must visit the Suwon campus to submit documents to apply to be foreign exchange students. Considering the distance between the campus in Seoul and the campus in Suwon, it is difficult to even submit documents to fulfill their dreams. Meanwhile, at the time of the former student union candidates’ resignation, students of the campus in Seoul felt alienated because the time and place to gather were not announced separately to them. The incident also served as an occasion to worsen the relationship between students from the Seoul campus and the Suwon campus.

 The following is a summary of the answers of the International Affairs Team regarding the submission of student documents and those of graduate officers from each campus.

 International Affairs Team: Now we receive exchange student application forms in the Seoul campus. Received ones are handed over to the Suwon campus office via the mail bag. Therefore, to visit Suwon just to submit forms is not correct information. However, if a student does not meet the deadline, he or she has to come to Suwon to submit the necessary document.

 Seoul Campus Graduation Officer: It was the fulfillment of an official document from the school. I guess the reason the graduation ceremony didn’t take place this year is probably because there are fewer students in the Seoul campus.

 Suwon Campus Graduation Officer: I received a notice that said the campus in Seoul would not perform its graduation ceremony this year. The graduation department of Suwon Campus only deals with the contents related to Suwon Campus, so I do not know about this matter.

 Students on the Seoul campus are complaining about a number of issues, including the support of scholarships, the hassle of various administrative procedures and the abolition of graduation ceremonies. The problem, however, is that the school has not responded to these students’ complaints. As they are students of the same school, they should not be discriminated against just because they have different campuses. Therefore, the school will have to fully explain the different treatment that students of the two campuses receive and find solutions.

sohyun7709@daum.net

dean0305@naver.com