Recently, the unemployment problem is more serious. The saying “If graduate college, anyone can get a job” became obsolete. Actually, there are many students who can’t get a job after graduation. So the students sometimes put off graduation. The putting off graduation is preparation to work better environment. Moreover, there are some colleges that force to sign up for courses to students who put off graduation. We will find out about putting off graduation and investigate improvement plan.

 

What is putting off graduation?

Putting off graduation is system that students can delay 1~4 semesters by accepting university’s approval after satisfying credits to graduate. According to ‘Status of university putting off graduation in 2015’ from the Ministry of Education, 107 out of 148 Universities have their graduation postponement system. In the event that some university do not have the system, students intend to maintain their credits to graduate 118 or 119 out of 120 if the total credits to graduate is 120. Besides Putting off graduation because they do not meet the requirements for graduation at each school's departments. According to ‘Status of university putting off graduation in 2015’, almost 17000 students postponed even they have fulfilled the conditions to graduate. This is official amount. So actual assumptive number of students who put off graduation including delay their graduation term to control their credits to graduate themselves is bigger than official amount.

 

According to Job Korea which is a job portal, there are some reason of Graduate from grace. Firstly, ‘The position of the student is superior to that of the graduate’. This is 62.9% out of 100%. Secondly, ‘Do not want to look like an incompetent if they have not got a job after graduation’ is 45.2%. Thirdly, ‘Lack of spec’ is 33.9%. They need time to gain professional license for their better spec. Finally, ‘Build up their experience by internship, etc.’ is 23.1%.

 

Besides according to SaramIn which is job site in Febrary 2014, Saramin made a survey “Do you avoid students who got a gap period after graduation?” from human resource department. 52.8% human resource department said “yes”. Reason that avoid students who got a gap period after graduation is that look like the students who “have the vague goal”, “are incompetent”, “under-active”, “Ill-adaptable”, “have the problem”. In 2017 student A of university of Seoul said “When job interview, interviewers ask the candidate what he or she done. It is burdensome.”, “To avoid this question, I paid only a basic fee to go to school and rarely went”.

 

Students are more likely to gain “spec” or get information in the job market than graduates.Because the importance of “spec” grows, the students thought it would be better to stay in school with many opportunities for internship and contests.

 

Relative profit when putting off graduation

If student delayed the graduation, the student has longer ready for the job. In 2013 university graduations, students who delayed graduation had average term required 13 semesters. And Regular graduate had 10.4 semesters. It was longer than the 2.6 semesters. Among the graduates of 2013, the students who put off graduation had a toeic score of 786. And regular graduate had 720. Also in internship, the students have experienced 11.7% and regular graduates have experienced 7.5%. According to Korea Research Institute for Vocational Education and Trainingents, temporary worker rate is that regular graduates the students made up a proportion 33.4% and the students occupied 27.7%. On average, the monthly wage was 1.95 million won for graduates and 2.21 million won for the students. In addition to university students think that the portion of graduates who found jobs at large companies, foreign companies and public corporations accounted for 25.4 percent of graduates and 31.3 percent of the students. In terms of the employment rate, the students employment rate was 73.3 to 80.3 %, consistently higher than the graduate employment rate of 69.4 to 77.4 %.

 

Secondly because there are internships and contests which regular graduate can’t get in, there are also occasions when graduation is postponed. If graduation is postponed, the students can get in contests and internship like enrolled students. Mr. A, a prospective job student, prepared to get a job right after graduation. He faied to get a job for a year and regreted not to delay graduation. Mr. A explained that many companies limited their participation qualifications to " university students. " " The cosmetic company I wanted to enter hired as an intern and then based on results, the company hired students as a full-time employee, " said Mr. A. However, qualifications for applying for internships were limited to " undergraduates " or " a graduate-to-be”. He said " If I have ever worked as an intern, I can get to work faster, but that opportunity is more available to a graduate-to-be”.  companies don`t think that students who prepare for work after graduate. Said Mr. A. After graduation, there are limitation on contests, internship.

         

Finally, if students delay graduation, students can use various facilities at university and participate in the program. After graduation, University of Inha can’t use Jeongseok Library freely as its students. Must receive a separate pass. However, if students get a graduation postponement, students can use Jeongseok Library as a student.. The graduate is not allowed to participate in the vacation research program of the University of Inha, but students who puf off graduation is allowed to participate. Once a student is graduated, he or she can not benefit from the above. Therefore, they are entitled to a greater choice as a student.

 

Although the students who delay a graduation may be provided more benefits than graduation, there are universities that force students to pay in school for job preparation.

 

A compulsory course of schools

67 out of 103 schools nationwide (296,688 people with students who postponed graduation) that had their delaying graduation system as of 1st semester 2017, 67 schools received an additional 2.5 million won. Taking one-credit lessons, he pays around 700,000 won. Some universities that have adopted the system require students with all graduation requirements to take one grade to approve the postponement.. Need to pay extra tuition to university to defer graduation. Konkuk University collected 311.32 million won in tuition by delaying the graduation of 382 students with an average of 676,280,000 won in tuition. Sungshin Women's University needs a minimum grade of two. Approximately 550,000 won, or one-sixth of the general registration fee (3,200,000~3,400,000 won), is required.

 

Students from universities that force them to take the courses should focus on job preparation but must take them to keep their grades. Clearly studying for the job opportunities that businesses want and teaching at university are different personalities. Nevertheless, universities can not afford to delay any lectures they do not want to take, because they require extra classes to delay graduation. " I have applied for an online class that I can take at home because I think I will be busy preparing for work after I return, " said one of the students at Sungshin Women's University, who explained, " It is a waste of time and money to pay for lessons I can not concentrate on. " 

 

In September 2015, Ahn Min-seok proposed a revision to the Higher Education System that would improve tuition and the system of delaying graduation. He said “As tuition has recently been frozen, universities are making an indirect charge on students. Typical methods used to adimission fee and the system of delaying graduation. Ahn's bill ‘to improve the system of delaying graduation’ prevents universities from pressuring students who delay graduation. Also, when the ministry evaluates university indicators, such as its assessment of university restructuring, New regulations designed to prevent the presence or absence of students deferring from graduation from being reflected in adverse indicators. Ahn said, “as of 2014, a total of 120,000 students enrolled at 166 universities nationwide for more than nine semesters. The tuition they paid is at least 60 billion won. The people have a big financial burden on education”, the bill was proposed. The bill, which was proposed in 2015, has not been dealt with in the National Assembly since there were 19.

 

Similarly, the Ministry of Education announced in 2016 that it would enact a law delaying graduation from the university through its " Measures to Improve the Academic System.". The system to put off graduation had been operated on the autonomy of universities without the provisions set forth in the Act until now, but it was decided to enact the law under the Enforcement Decree of the Higher Education Act, which requires the use of the system of university diplomas. The previous policy of delaying graduation according to the universities ' voluntary requirements was operated without the provisions set forth in the Act, but it was decided to enact the law on higher education by defining the system as a regulation. The high number of students deferring from graduating by excluding the " number of students at university " eliminates the possibility of disadvantages in university evaluations. The university rules provide for the possibility of preventing universities from refusing to approve the system that delays their graduation.

 

Previously, students who delay graduation were categorized as students. If the number of students increases, they can be disadvantaged by various support including management, university evaluation, and scholarships. So from a university point of view, university couldn't encourage people to postpone graduation indefinitely. In November 2017, the Education Ministry announced a Government's proposal to prevent universities from forcing students who delay graduation from taking extra credit. The Education Ministry proposed a revision to a bill proposed by Congressman Ahn Min-seok. If the bill is passed, students who delayed their graduation due to tight jobs will no longer have to pay extra tuition. The ministry said it would eliminate tuition fees for students who delay graduation, but allow students to receive a cost-level tuition from universities, such as libraries. They say that instead of preventing students from being forced to attend classes, they should be allowed to receive facility fees in the name of other fees. The revision is pending in the parliamentary examination of the education, culture, sports and tourism committee bill.

 

Experts point out that it is practically impossible to regulate all colleges. Kim Bong-seok, visiting professor of sociology at Sungkyunkwan University, said, " Because of the difference in the number of students who wish to delay graduation by university, the ministry will not make specific regulations or make specific standards through intercollegiate consultations. " “It would be most effective for individual universities to establish a proper system with a midnight effort”, he said.

 

Private university's Chosun University can pay 100,000 won for the reservation and defer graduation. It is not costly, but it does not specify where to use the tuition. Therefore, it is necessary to disclose where to use it and obtain appropriate costs from students. In addition, some schools in Seoul can reserve graduation without applying for extra credits or paying. 6 universities in Seoul, such as JoongAng University, Hongik University, Sookmyung Women's University, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, and Dongguk University, can defer their graduation without additional tuition unless they meet their graduation requirements. An official at Hongik University, which is related to the university above, answered, There is no system to hold off on graduation and if there are students who want to postpone graduation, you should not submit a paper.

 

Inha university has a graduation certificate system and a partial enrollment system. Let's find out about our school's diploma system and see how graduating students can benefit from the university. The Inha Times(IT) interviewed with Academic Affairs team and job support team.

 

The Inha Times (IT): How can students who want to delay graduation in our university defer?

 

Academic affairs team (AAT): Our university must graduate when graduation requirements are met. Students who want to defer their graduation may delay their graduation by not meeting all of the requirements. Different departments have different graduation requirements, but they also have credits, diplomas, graduation exams, or a graduation thesis. Many students delay graduation because it is risky not to fill the grades and don't submit requirements for a diploma. Some departments require a graduation examination or a thesis, so some students do not meet the requirements.

 

IT: The Ministry of Education has offered to establish a different graduation postponement system for each school, but I wonder what our university have to say.

 

AAT : The problem with this issue was that the schools were paid to defer graduation. Our university has no graduation postponement, but we have a graduation exemption. The diploma system allows students to check out and borrow books for up to one year only from a study room on the fifth floor of the university's 60th anniversary hall or an applicant without paying for the extra year's tuition.

 

IT: Some of the internships at the company are for the enrolled students only. Can the graduates of our school remain as students?

 

AAT : I heard that some companies choose only enrolled students who are taking internships. These companies require the students to submit registration certificates. Students who wish to apply for internships as undergraduates may remain as students with only a single class after registering. Students who want to complete a degree at university and stay on the register can receive a certificate of enrollment just like their peers at university if they do not fulfill their graduation requirements and apply for classes during the course period.

 

IT: The university has set up a system that enables graduates who are preparing to work at Jungseok Library. Could you tell us a little about it?

 

AAT : For students preparing to get a job after graduation, Jeongseok Library helps them to use the deposit for 110,000 won (100,000 won guaranteed by books and 10,000 won for cards). This deposit is fully refundable when you return the card. The criteria for application are a graduate-to-be and graduate school graduates from February 2013 to February 2018. If the graduates apply to the Academic Information Management Team on the third floor of Jungseok Library by referring to required documents, they can use the reading room of Jeongseok Library freely for one year.

 

IT: Is there a university program that can help students who are about to graduate from university get jobs?

 

Job support team(JST): Job camps will start in February compared to the first half of 2018. In February, special lecture sessions and editing are held on job applications. In March, special lecture on human nature and interview will be held. University graduate and graduate-to-be are also eligible to participate in the work study at the university in March. For students who are about to graduate but have not yet made a decision on their route, the Job Inha site, (job.inha.ac.kr) offers individual counseling and career counseling. Also, there is a recommendation recruiting system on the Job Inha site. Students who want to work at any time can apply for the recommended recruitment system that is regularly available from Job Inha site. One of the things that students don't know about is that they often don't know that there's a Package of Job Successes on campus. Although it may be conducted externally, graduating students can arrange time with consultant teachers in charge of job success packages on campus in parallel with their university classes to facilitate the training sessions conveniently. In the same way, Inha University is open to college graduates and graduate-to-be alike to participate in job programs.

 

 

These days, with the job market being so tight, it is not easy for students to get a job at the company they want before graduation. Many students prepare to work after graduation in order to work in a better environment. Universities should be more considerate of students who delay graduation, and actively help them prepare for work in a better environment.

박상언  psu0825@naver.com

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