A new “Leap semester” will be introduced at Pusan National University (PNU) for students who want intensive education, such as early graduation and convergence majors. It is a measure caused by reduced freshmen, ensuring the convenience of students with linked majors, coping with the need for intensive learning, and providing high-quality education.

On the morning of April 20th, the Office of Educational Affairs of PNU held a "PNU Education Innovation Public Hearing" in the auditorium on the third floor of the university headquarters. About 70 people attended the public hearing, including department members of the Office of Educational Affairs, faculty members of the university headquarters, and the student council. The Office of Educational Affairs introduced projects such as presenting and operating a leap semester system during the vacation, talent awards, educational purposes, and re-establishing core competencies, and collected opinions from members of PNU.

The issue that attracted the most attention at this public hearing is the “Leap semester system (tentative name),” which will be introduced during the summer vacation next year. The leap semester system is a new semester in the second half of the seasonal semester during the vacation period. It is designed to support students who need intensive education in various areas. Amid various educational problems, such as student dropout, they wanted to propose a preemptive solution at the university level.

In the leap semester, major subjects that are not opened in the seasonal semester are expected to be held mainly for intensive education. It also provides an additional educational environment for students with convergence majors who need to take linked courses. Course registration, Course correction, and Course fee payment of the leap semester system will be carried out at the same time as the seasonal semester.

As this introduction is a new initiative, opinions from various members of PNU were raised at the public hearing. In particular, attention was focused on securing differences among regular semesters, seasonal semesters, and leap semesters. As the main target of the leap semester system is those who want intensive education, such as getting qualifications, intensive education, and early graduation, there must be a clear difference in the leap semester system. In response,  the Office of Educational Affairs said that it would organize an efficient class time for each type of subject while operating flexible credit-type classes.

There were also voices of concern about increased workload for the faculty and the inaccuracy of the evaluation method. Due to the parallel operation with the seasonal semester, the work can increase excessively, and it is vague to set the evaluation criteria. It was also pointed out that it is difficult to prepare a living space for students who only take leap semesters without taking seasonal semesters. Choi Yoon-Ho, head of the Office of Educational Affairs, said, "It is challenging for students to do activities to improve their capabilities only in the seasonal semester. I think it is right to distribute it from the student's point of view even if there is excessive work." 

Regarding the evaluation method, housing issues, and official names, he said that he would listen to and collect the opinions of each ministry and school members from May. Kim Yo-Seop (Dept. of Korean Language Education, 20), the president of the student council, who attended the public hearing on this day, said, "As it is still in the draft stage, we will discuss it closely with the university headquarters and try to make it a project that can help the student society."

Meanwhile,  the Office of Educational Affairs has changed the talent of our university to “Hyowon-In(人) with creative intelligence and right personality,” following the ideology of the first president Yoon In-Gu. The core competencies, of which there were initially eight, were reduced to five: Earth citizens, Exploring knowledge, Communication cooperation, Creational convergence, and Innovation challenges. The goal is to enable members of PNU to be aware of the changed educational ideology and vision by 2025.

Reporter Jo Seung-Wan

Translated by Kim Hyeon-Hee