Korean professors fined for taking tests for students to inflate scores, prevent budget cuts
Teachers sat ‘key’ exams to keep poorly performing people at university amid school closure threats; one academic faces extortion bid
Four teaching staff at a university in South Korea have been fined for taking exams for students to boost test scores in an attempt to keep their department from being shut down.
On December 22, the Gwangju District Court in Gwangju city in the southern part of the country fined three professors and a teaching assistant between 1.5 million and 6 million won (US$1,000 and US$4,000) for “obstructing academic operations”.
The name of the university where they work was not revealed in a report of the case by the Korea JoongAng Daily.
The court heard that as the country’s population ages, the school ordered its teaching staff to enrol and retain students.
If they did not do so, their departments could face budget cuts or even closure.
As a result, the defendants arranged to sit key exams for poorly performing students who risked being expelled from the school. The teachers also fabricated good grades for the students.
