On October 6th, there was an announcement of the 2014 University Rankings by the JoongAng Ilbo. They evaluated universities based on 4 measurements: globalization, faculty research, education conditions & finance, and social reputation & alumni networking. In this 2014 ranking, CBNU ranked 31st, which decreased 2 steps compared with the 29th ranking last year. However, apart from CBNU, there were also much discontent and concern towards the university rankings by the press in this year. This year, the students boycotted the university rankings with the GSA of Korea University leading the way.

The Controversy about JoongAng Ilbo’s University Rankings

  The university rankings researched by the press were always criticized by other presses and professors, so the rankings didn’t receive respect and they desecrated the essence of university education. And it forced universities to compete among themselves and arrange themselves into a hierarchy. However, this year, the students have unprecedentedly protested by boycotting the rankings themselves. After the announcement of the rankings on October 26, 2014, the GSAs of 8 universities protested in front of the JoongAng Ilbo building in Seoul that the rankings will aggravate the hierarchy, including rankings of Korea University, Kyung Hee University, Kookmin University, Dongguk University, Seoul National University, Sungkonghoe University, Yonsei University, and Hanyang University. The GSAs, which officially stated their boycott, are centered in Seoul. Otherwise, the local universities kept silent, but recently, the GSA of Pusan National University officially stated the boycott for the first time among universities outside of Seoul.
  Then, let’s find out what CBNU’s opinion for the rankings is. The On&On student president, Choi Jeong-hwan, said, “I think, the university rankings themselves are not bad. However, I believe, this controversy happened because of its unfair measurements, and I hope that fair methods will be used for future research. These 2014 rankings promoted universities into companies. If the objectivity isn’t proved, I’m also in a negative position about the rankings. We are cons, but we don’t have a plan to officially state our position.  
  Hong Na-ri(’13, Dept. of German Language and Literature) said, “The university rankings depend on the profits from the universities, press, and companies. I believe that the rankings have an inevitable relationship with invisible partial prejudices. Therefore, we should take an effort to see the rankings without any prejudices. About the protest, I think it’s all right and necessary for students to protect their school from a hierarchy. Furthermore, I hope the GSA of CBNU will listen carefully about student opinions.”
  This year, the university rankings, which are blamed every year, have increasingly become overheated for the first time by the students’ demonstration.

By Park Ji-su
js34@cbnu.ac.kr