[Editorial] Delayed formulation of 2002 test guidelines

Second-year students at local high schools who will take university entrance examinations in 2002 are ill at ease. Even as the student selection system is undergoing drastic changes, most colleges and universities have yet to work out and publish specific guidelines.

In making public last November its master plan for student admissions in 2002, the Education Ministry told these institutions of higher learning to establish guidelines by the end of December. The guidelines are to include dates of selection, application procedures, classification of specialization, methods of selection, qualifications for applicants and the contents and level of test questions.

But less than half of the 192 schools across the nation have come up with guidelines. Most of the universities and colleges in Seoul, including Seoul National, Yonsei and Korea University have not finalized their guidelines.

Colleges differ on how to categorize recruitment in terms of specialization; they are known to be foot dragging in the adoption of guidelines as they awaiting moves by other schools. Many of them reportedly will be unable to set their guidelines within January.

Many college-bound students are impatient to get hold of specific guidelines in their desire to prepare for entrance tests under the drastically reformed system of student selection. The new system seeks to take into account diverse elements such as special talents, personality and extracurricular activities, while also introducing a multi-phased selection process. Scores on scholastic ability tests would be expressed in letter grades, instead of numbers. Student selection would be made all year-round -- between May 20 and June 20 in the first semester and at anytime during the second semester.

Students and their parents are worried about the short period of time that might be allowed for them to prepare for vast changes, because colleges and universities are procrastinating in producing the admissions guidelines. There are only four months to go before students have to submit their applications for selection in May. How troubled the would-be applicants and their families must be!

One of the primary responsibilities of advanced educational institutions is to present information on entrance examinations in advance so that students can have sufficient time for preparation. This would enable high school teachers to provide timely guidance for their students. Colleges and universities are urged to hammer out the related guidelines and provide them to applicants as soon as possible.

As the entrance test for 2002 will see more students admitted based on special and vocational merits, concrete and clear-cut criteria for selection must be set up. The recent scandal involving student admissions based on falsified diplomas from schools in foreign countries should serve as a lesson to university officials.