Kwon Da-Eun (Dept. of Media & Communication, 21) experienced inconvenience during the course registration for this semester. It took 10 minutes to log in because of server failure. Kwon said, “It seems that the loading time for clicking one course to the next course has been longer than before reorganizing the Student Support System.”

Pusan National University (PNU) improved the course registration system by reorganizing the “Student Support System” into the “Next Generation Smart Education Information System” on October 30, 2022. In particular, with the introduction of the “Waiting Numbering System,” expectation was high that course registration would be less difficult than before. However, students’ dissatisfaction with the server remained for the first regular semester course registration conducted after the reorganization of the “Student Support System.”

“Channel PNU” surveyed 172 students from PNU about the course registration system from February 12th to the 23rd. It showed that 62.8% of the respondents said that they experienced inconvenience in registering courses compared to before the reorganization of the “Student Support System.” The main reason for the inconvenience was server failure, which was selected by 76.8% of students who said they experienced inconveniences. One respondent said, “I didn’t feel any improvement compared to the previous one, but rather, error messages appeared about four times.”

In addition to the problem of server failure, there are many problems with the reorganized course registration system. There were a number of errors, such as accepting more students than the quota and a push back in the order of the “Waiting Numbering System.” Some students continued to face a pop-up saying “It’s not the course registration period!” even though they pressed the course registration button on time. PNU student A (Dept. of Materials Science & Engineering) said, “At the time of the first course registration, a pop-up saying “It’s not the course registration period!” appeared for 5 minutes even though it’s past 8 am. I’m in the fourth grade now, but I failed to apply for all major courses.”

Regarding a push back in the order of the “Waiting Number System,” the PNU Office of Information Technology & Services Manager said, “The actual data (waiting number) has not been moved back. It was just that the actual data and the waiting number on the screen were different, and we corrected that error. We are trying to prevent recurrence by identifying server problems and various errors that occurred during this course registration.”

Course registration for freshmen also had problems. On February 13th, a login failure occurred in the course registration for freshmen which started at 10 am, causing an unprecedented delay of 1 hour and 30 minutes. According to the Office of Information Technology & Services, course registration for freshmen allows only tuition payers to apply for classes after inquiring about the details of tuition payments. However, this error occurred due to the omission of the student list in this course registration. Kim Se-Eun (Dept. of Organic Material Science & Engineering, 23) said, “I tried to login right at 10 am, but I did not know what to do with the error. I tried to open another tab and change my password, but it failed.” “I couldn’t keep waiting for the notice because I had to go to take the bus, and it wasn’t until 11:30 am in the terminal waiting room when I could register for the course,” she added.

While students complained about the server, the response to introducing the “Waiting Numbering System” was positive. The “Waiting Numbering System” is a system that grants a waiting number on a first-come-first-serve basis when applicants apply for a course that exceeds the maximum numbers of students allowed in the class. When a course is dropped, that course will be automatically registered according to the order of waiting numbers. Only 30% of the quota of students as the main major, Minor/Double/Teaching Profession, General Elective, and students from other universities respectively can receive a waiting number. Of the survey’s total respondents, 44.8% (usually 29.1%) said that they were satisfied with the “Waiting Numbering System.” In other words, it helps to prevent wasting time and eradicate illegal activities that students sell the courses to students who really need them.

However, there was also something to supplement the “Waiting Numbering System.” This is because the “Waiting Numbering System” was not applied immediately at the time of the course registration but is implemented by receiving applications separately at 2 pm on the same day. The waiting number is not given directly after the course registration ends, which means that they have to register for the courses again. The department office is also in a difficult situation because it cannot easily increase the number of students allowed in class, considering the waiting list. In response, a PNU Office or Educational Affairs official explained, “This is because you can apply for a waiting number for the courses whose registration has closed.”

In addition, the “Waiting Numbering System” was applied only to the first course registration, where it needs to be improved. The “Waiting Numbering System” is not implemented for the second course registration. A PNU Office of Educational Affairs official explained, “We planned to conduct it throughout the course registration period. But we decided to only apply for the first course registration because there were opinions from various departments that an additional application period for prospective graduates is also needed.”

Reporter Jung Hye-Eun

Translated by Kwon Eun-Ji