Last January, news came out that the Department of Creative Writing is in danger of being abolished. The school’s plans to merge minor departments had already been an issue for years. In 2017 and 2019, Kyonggi University tried to introduce a track system and restructure some departments. However, the student body thwarted the plans by participating in public hearings and passionately holding a candlelight vigil. About two years later, on January 15, 2022, students majoring in creative writing were informed that their department might be abolished because the school needs to provide more support to the science and engineering departments, Pharos will investigate this conflict between the school and the students that reemerges every two years and suggest an objective multilateral solution.

 On January 20, the 25th student council of the Department of Creative Writing, Saeron, had a signature-seeking campaign to oppose the college restructuring plan. The president of Saeron asked the students majoring in interdisciplinary studies to help, warning them that they could possibly be the next target of the college restructuring plan because most of the departments in the College of Interdisciplinary Studies have a small number of students. He criticized the school’s decision to sacrifice smaller majors and said it isn’t fair for the school to abolish the department without any discussion with the students. He also claimed that creative writing majors face high competition on entrance exams, have a high employment rate of 66.7%, and that the major is profitable every year. However, the problem of the college restructuring plan was not only for the Department of Creative Writing. The reorganization plans of 2017 and 2019 were aimed at most departments of the school. These plans were radical not only for the students, but also for the professors. Therefore, the names of the colleges have changed and the faculty system was introduced, as opposed to department integration and abolition. Despite this strong opposition, college restructuring was planned again this year. The strategic planning team of the school reported that otherwise the school won’t be able to maintain its operations in the future if the current status is maintained. As to why smaller majors are being targeted for abolition, they explained that smaller majors don’t have enough professors, so it is hard for the students to take various courses. When there are not enough appropriate courses for students to take, the departments face inevitable consequences. In fact, there are only two full-time professors and one honorary professor in the Department of Creative Writing. It is a small number compared to the average of 5.1 professors in the other departments within the College of Interdisciplinary Studies.

 The strategic planning team also said that the purpose of the plan is to strengthen competitiveness and to improve efficiency to improve options in education for students and maintain a quality educational environment. They want to lead all students in a better direction by making an environment where the students can major in a more competitive field. In conclusion, they are seeking solutions for the school’s survival and constant improvement rather than short- term financial reduction. To achieve these goals, it is important to achieve an excellent score on the Basic University Competency Diagnosis by KESPA and KEDI. Kyonggi University has been making a variety of efforts to achieve this. For example, since 2021, the College of Knowledge Information and Service has been restructured, divided into the College of Social Sciences and College of Software and Management. As result, the Department of Business Administration and the Department of AI Computer Engineering are now in the same college. This is not a common method of organization, but it seems to be a change due to the direction of the government, reducing the scale of the humanities and expanding support for science and engineering departments. As a result, Kyonggi University was selected as a “general-financial support university,” so it can receive financial support for three years from 2022 to 2024. This shows why it is necessary to implement academic reorganization according to government directives. Such measures will reinforce the future status of Kyonggi University.

 Because the result of the Basic University Competency Diagnosis can control important support elements such as the University Innovation Support Project, which determines the scale of financial aid, as well as scholarships and student loans, which are associated with students’ livelihoods, structural reorganization is inevitable. However, the fact that it cannot guarantee the educational right of students who enter this school to study their desired courses doesn't correspond with the essence of a university. On the college entrance examination in 2021, the competition rate for the Department of Creative Writing reached a high of 9.3. Since there are plenty of students who hope to major in creative writing, it can be rash choice to eliminate the creative writing major completely. Increasing the number of professors or considering a merge with other majors should be explored. Criticism of the current restructuring plan remains. Of course, the restructuring was not carried out in this way alone. Restructuring occurs in various ways such as merging departments from the Seoul and Suwon campuses and reducing over-opened lectures. Yet, the matter that students constantly raise is unilateral notification without input from the students. The school's consistent attitude to notify first and listen to and reflect opinions later has been sharply criticized by the students.

 Restructuring is unavoidable if the university hopes to continue operating into the future. Also, it is clear that reorganization is fundamentally based on financial considerations. Actually, the school forecasts that by restructuring, they can save about 4.4 billion won. Nevertheless, it is unreasonable for students to lose their voices. In this situation, the most important consideration must be honest, transparent communication. If the school's position is fully explained, all students should be able to understand the situation. The school already modified the shocking reorganization plans for departments in 2017 and 2019 to respect students' opinions, and therefore students who will be affected by restructuring also have to understand the ultimate goal of school objectively and concede the change for community development. The Education Ministry said the 2021 evaluation will be revised to increase the proportion of the student recruitment rate instead of removing recommendations for reduction. In view of these factors, it is necessary to find diverse ways to increase Kyonggi University's competitiveness besides restructuring.

76th Reporter • CHOI BO YOUN • invierno.y@kyonggi.ac.kr

77th Cub Reporter • JO YEON WOO • amyjoe0213@naver.com