In 2005, the integration of Chungbuk National University and Chungnam National University was debated. Lately, the rumor of the integration of CBNU and the Jeungpyeong campus of the Korea National University of Transportation was circulating in CBNU. Moreover, the integration of CBNU and Chungbuk Provincial College is also a hot potato.
  Korea National University of Transportation(KNUT) has three campuses in Chung-ju city, Ui-wang city and Jeungpyeong-gun.  However, as they restructured the constitution of the university, the Jeungpyeong campus professors and students resisted against it. As a result of restructuring, the number of departments was reduced from 52 to 23. The Jeungpyeong campus students said, “In the Jeungpyeong campus, the sizes of many departments have been reduced. We oppose the decision by the university headquarters because the restructuring constitution is disadvantageous to us and disregards students’ opinions.”
  The Jeungpyeong campus students agreed with the integration with CBNU, but it was refused by KNUT. Accordingly, students who favor the integration demonstrated at the office of the university president. These students said, “The students’ right for learning should be preserved. The Jeungpyeong campus is necessary since it has many competitive majors in the health, life science and education fields. Through cooperation with CBNU, which has a College of Medicine and a hospital, the Jeungpyeong campus will develop a better quality of education, and ultimately, it would contribute to the advancement of Chungbuk.”
  Jeungpyeong-gun joined in on this matter also. On January 25th in the district office, Hong Seong-yeol, the governor of Jeungpyeong-gun, said, “It is a disappointment that we can’t see the effort to make the university and community of Jeungpyeong-gun coexist, and KNUT didn’t keep the promise that they will make each campus specialized. KNUT has to keep its promise, and there should be enough students in the Jeungpyeong campus.” He added,  “The Jeungpyeong campus is located 20~30 minutes from Cheong-ju, so Cheong-ju students can easily commute to the Jeungpyeong campus.”
  KNUT constantly opposes the integration with CBNU. They disciplined some Jeungpyeong campus professors due to the discussion without KNUT’s approval. The KNUT administer said, “There is no case of integration with a part of a college. Stop this argument.”
  CBNU professors have open minds to integrate with the Jeungpyeong campus. They announced their plan to combine with not only a part of campus but also the whole KNUT campus in a press conference on December 23rd last year. They added, “CBNU has an idea to integrate with any other departments, national colleges or universities in Chungbuk that want to combine with CBNU.”
  Lately, this new issue has been prevalent. CBNU professors said at the meeting with the Jeungpyeong-gun council on February 4th, “The number of Koreans of school age has consistently decreased. In 2018, the fixed number of students entering university(600,000) will be more than the high school graduates(560,000). We endeavor to raise competitiveness through standardizing lectures and obligating joint study by integrating.” Chungbuk Provincial College administers strongly oppose integrating and said, “CBNU professors were suggesting a legally impossible and worthless integration policy. The integration of a national and provincial school is not possible and nothing needs to be discussed.”
  CBNU didn’t speak out about the integration with the Jeungpyeong campus, but on Feb 23rd, Yoon Yeo-pyo, the CBNU president, said, “We will not avoid any discussion about the integration with any universities, and we intend to join a consultative group if the related universities form a new one for win-win optimum methods.”
  Because the integration among universities or colleges can largely affect not only the school but also the community, a careful decision is needed. However, given that a university is basically an educational institution, it should be discussed from the students’ stance.

By Shin So-hyeon
sh36@cbnu.ac.kr