S. Korean Legislators Passed the Higher Education Act to Help PT Lecturers—PTers Union Alleges 20K Lost Jobs

By Kim Jae-heun

A part-time lecturer surnamed Jung, who teaches at a university in Seoul, says job security for part-time lecturers has worsened this year ahead of the scheduled implementation of the revised Higher Education Act in August, which is aimed at providing better working conditions for them.

“Quite a number of the part-time lecturers I know teaching at universities outside Seoul have been dismissed, and they believe it is because the schools felt that the cost of hiring them as faculty members was too high,” Jung told The Korea Times.

“Thankfully I haven’t lost my job yet but who knows, I could be laid off in the second semester when they have to offer me a higher salary to abide by the law.”

Such dismissals are, ironically, the result of a law the government originally created to guarantee job security to part-time lecturers by having universities hire them as faculty members and pay them a stable salary.

After the act goes into effect, universities have to guarantee lecturers’ employment for at least one year ― up from the current six months ― and provide them with a salary during school vacations, severance pay, and national insurance.

When the revision bill was passed in 2011, lecturers expressed concerns that schools might dismiss them due to the increased financial burden. So implementation was suspended, and following discussions among the relevant parties, an amended version was passed in November last year with slight changes.

However, even before implementation, their concerns turned out to be valid starting with the first semester of this year.

According to the Ministry of Education and the Korean Council for University Education, 305,353 classes were taught by lecturers in March at 196 universities nationwide, down from 312,008 in the same month last year.

Among them, the number of small-sized classes attended by no more than 20 students declined from 118,657 to 109,571, with the percentage of such among the total dropping from 38 percent to 35.9 percent. These small classes are usually taught by part-time lecturers.

In contrast, large classes with more than 50 students ― usually taught by full-time professors ― increased from 39,669 to 42,557.

The exact number of laid-off part-time lecturers is yet to be confirmed as regular statistics on faculties from the Korean Educational Development Institute have yet to be made public.

However, considering the decrease in the number of both overall and small-sized classes in the first semester, a large number of part-time lecturers could have been fired or at least had the number of their lectures cut.

The Korean Irregular Professors Union (KIPU) claims that nearly 20,000 lecturers have been fired.

“Ahead of the law going into effect in August, we’ve been arguing that universities will reduce the number of small classes to dismiss part-time lecturers and increase large-scale classes that have a greater number of students,” a KIPU official said during a press conference near Cheong Wa Dae, Tuesday. “More part-time lecturers will be laid off in the second semester, so the government has to take action to prevent this.”

The education ministry said the scheduled implementation of the law may have caused universities to fire some of their part-time lecturers, but this was not the only reason.

“We have witnessed the number of classes at universities declining over the past few years, and there are many factors contributing to this, including the decreasing number of students,” a ministry official said.