Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Francis-Pax]

There has been a lot of discussion about the hogwonization of universities. The general feeling is that it is a bad thing. I also thought it was a bad thing until I really started thinking about it.

There is nothing wrong with a university offering language classes that are not for credit. Many major prestigious universities in the USA offer non-credit ESL classes as well as courses in other languages to the general community. These classes are often taught be people with proper qualifications. I don't see how these classes take away from the mission, image, or quality of the university or the positions they offer.

Similarly, in Korea we see a lot of lanugage institutes that offer credit and non-credit courses. The non-credit courses do not have to mean that the university is bad or that the conditions are bad. After careful research, I have discovered that there are various "unigwons" out there that offer a good package (not-perfect -- what is?).

After reading a lot of posts on this site on the issue, I have come to realize that they talk about this out of context, and they neglect to realize that many universities in the USA, UK, and other countries do the same thing. In fact, San Diego State University, where I got my graduate level certificate in TEFL, had a unigwon. The teachers there had decent money and many have worked there for over ten years. I don't see the problem.

I don't see it as being a problem at an objective level in Korea or anywhere else. I think it just depends on the school.

[the_beaver]

I agree.

[SuperHero]

Well said.

[HapKi]

[Pak Yu Man]

I have a non-credit class in the morning.
Students are as follows

3 people who work on campus (they get a discount)
3 buisiness types
7 uni students

On average one guy shows up and never allows me to teach him by himself. Over the last 3 weeks I've taught about 4 classes. I have to get up early but I wait around 20 mins then go to my office and play computer games or whatever.

Yep...that really sucks.

[igotthisguitar]

Ok, then. Sure, Unigwon may not be such a "bad" word after all.

But i can guarantee you Dung-chim Chee-gay sure is

[PRagic]

With regards to the examples privided here, I would agree with you. However, most of the critisism raised concerns univerisities forming 'unigwons', and then having the teachers there provide courses for credit. These courses were formerly taught through a department.

Like private institutes, these 'unigwons' are free to hire anyone with a BA. In many cases, these people are teaching kids, adults, AND university classes. Some of the larger schools (e.g. Korea University) do require the MA, but these programs predominantly teach for credit classes, thereby taking away the need to provide long term employment with associated benefits to qualified university lecturers and professors.

If they want to create 'unigwons' to turn a profit, fine. However, the institutions that contribute to a decrease in formal university positions and the deterioration of employment conditions are crossing a line.

[Hotpants]

Francis Pax's post could be read as it being of course an advantage for universities to open up classes for anyone in the community. Financially and community wise, it is beneficial. Long term also, the number of uni students will decrease because of slowing birth rate, so opening up to include other clients is also an eventual necessity for gaining extra funding.

However, for the teachers that are employed in a unigwon, their working conditions are often comparable to an average hagwon, but with less salary on average and little difference in vacation period. Therefore, if a teacher is going to be doing the same job at a hagwon and unigwon but with differing pay, then from the teachers' point of view, a unigwon is not especially noteworthy over a hagwon unless a teacher is particularly concerned with adding the word 'university' to their ESL resume.