▲ There is a limit for student to register for classese.

  In “Everytime,” the online student community of CBNU, students mostly express discontent about major subject enrollment during the enrollment period. For example, “Students want to register for their major subjects, but the maximum number of students per class that is set by the department is very small. Therefore, it is very difficult to register for those subjects.” and “I am a student who has a double major. To complete the credits required to graduate, I have to register for a specific subject this semester. I applied for excess registration because the class already had the maximum number of students, however it was not approved.” In addition, “Our department opened a specific subject at the last moment, and it is not same as advertised on our major website curriculum.”

  The following problem usually occurs in case of a Multi Major. In the College of Electronic Information, for example, there are too many students who want to register for one major subject, due to the inflow of Multi Major, Minor, Convergence Major, and the Liberal Studies Major applicants. Seo beom-su(Dept. of Astronomy and Space Science, 19), said “Even if the major subjects of the School of Computer Science include division, the enrollment is small. In the case of a compulsory subject in one’s major, application for an excess course is usually all approved, so I have no problem taking a course. However, in the case of elective major courses, to register for a different grade’s subject is hard. Most of the Multi Major students of the School of Computer Science, in the third grade registers for first and second grade’s subject, and in the fourth grade registers for third grades subject. In turn, students cannot register for the prerequisite subjects and problems occur when trying to register for the subject of the upper grades.” About this situation, the Office of the School of Computer Science answered “Our department set up a few major subjects, however we are trying to approve as many of the excess courses as possible. Actually the ‘Computer Network,’ in elective major courses were all approved for excess courses, and the present students who registered for this subject are more than 120.”

  The problem also occurred at departments that follow a curriculum divided into detailed majors. Student A(School of Electronic Engineering, 21) said “In the School of Electronics Engineering divided into Electronics and Semiconductor, taking exams in both majors became a challenge.” Moreover, students commented about the current status of major classes by student number like the Office of the School of Electronics Engineering explained “The School of Electronics Engineering is divided into detailed major since 2021, therefore students whose student numbers were allocated in 2021 takes classes this curriculum, but the students who enrolled before 2021 follow the School of Electronics Engineering. After the allocation of detailed majors among the School of Electronics Engineering, Electronics, Semiconductor, and Intelligent Systems and Robotics can be mutually recognized. In these cases, students with student numbers allocated after 2021, will be able to take cross-examination but some of subjects will not be permissible. In this case, they are recognized as general selective subjects, and before the enrollment time our department clearly communicates this to students in a meeting.” Likewise, Student B(School of Electronics Engineering, 18) said “The School of Electronics Engineering is divided into detailed majors, and it is uncertain whether the subject ‘Engineering Mathematics Ⅱ’ will open or not, and there are no alternative courses in place.” The Office of the School of Electronics Engineering replied “Our department is trying to open only the subject ‘Engineering Mathematics’ after dividing into detailed majors, it is not two subjects ‘Engineering Mathematics Ⅰ’ and ‘Engineering Mathematics Ⅱ’. ‘Engineering mathematics Ⅱ’ is the subject that was set up in the second semester. This subject is not in high demand, and it is just an elective major course. Therefore, our office of the department can not know if this subject will be set up yet. We have been consistently offering this subject during the second semester from 2021 to 2023.”

  Besides the Main Major, Multiple Major, Minor, Convergence Major, and the Liberal Studies Major, students enter specific department that are most popular. Thus, the following problem occurs. The number of students who want to take a course is bigger than the classroom capacity.  Student C(School of Electronics engineering, 22) said “Many students are eager to take a major in our department, but the classes can not accommodate the people.”

  Another problem may also be lack of fulltime faculty. Colleges have to consider the possibility of opening classes in the light of the number of faculty and an additional number of internal conditions. If there is a lack of faculty, or faculty taking a sabbatical for research, and colleges have to hire new faculty, there is a chance that certain courses will not be offered. Therefore, only a limited number of students will be able to take certain major subjects, and the number of majors set up in the department can be limited. The policy of the present government expanded the ratio of the general university’s adjunct and visiting faculty available from one-fifth to one-third. Adjunct and visiting faculty’s salary is noticeably less than faculty in full service, and in terms of national universities, and it is therefore preferred to recruit adjunct and visiting faculty at a reduced charge.

Countermeasures were implemented, at the department level, to address the causes of the problems. First of all, regarding the problem that occurs due to the inflow of students through several majors, the Office of the School. of Electronic Engineering explained “On the undergraduate side, to reserve large classrooms in consultation with the entire college and also trying to use common lecture rooms for different majors that every department of college can use, we negotiate the timetable with another departments and try to set it up in such a manner that students do not have any problems with their major classes.” The Office of the School of Computer Science said “We continuously request more faculty in full service and we are trying to expand our lectures through employment of instructors, but there where complications in the process of recruiting job applicants. To resolve this problem, we contacted the university headquarters, and requested more full time faculty.”

  Yu Soo-kyung, the team leader of the Academic Administration Support Department, commented on the current course registration process at CBNU. She explained that before students register for courses, CBNU organizes a curriculum committee by department to discuss and establish the subjects offered. However, there have been issues during course registration. She mentioned that this includes phenomena related to major allocation, such as the Liberal Studies Major students, Multi Major applications, and transfers within departments based on student preferences. For instance, this occurs in departments like School of Compter Science and School of Business. To address these problems, the department continuously analyzes students’ demand for courses in their shopping carts during the application process. Moving forward, they plan to prioritize consultation on major subjects to expand course offerings before the official registration period.

  This recurring issue arises each term. Students take various courses, and despite department efforts, there remains a challenge related to lecture hall capacity when students apply for courses across different departments. This issue is compounded by the constraints of opening major subjects under specific conditions. Additionally, the shortage of faculty members poses difficulties, especially considering the policies set by the current government. Despite continuous efforts by both departments and colleges to prepare alternatives, the responsibility ultimately falls on this CBT reporter to shine a light on this problem. Ensuring diverse course selections for students and streamlining graduation credit management are essential tasks that CBNU should prioritize.