South Korea’s Ministry of Education has revoked the university degrees of several musicians after Dongshin University was found guilty for violating school regulations by giving the artists preferential treatment.
Those effected are Btob’s Seo Eun-kwang and Yook Sung-jae, folk singer-songwriter Chu Ga-yeol, Highlight’s Lee Gi-kwang, Yong Jun-hyung, Yoon Doo-joon, and former bandmate Jang Hyun-seung,
During a ministry hearing, the university admitted to the education ministry that full attendance credits were given to the seven high-profile male entertainers, who hadn’t attended enough classes to fulfil the requirements in order to graduate due to their busy schedules. The university instead marked their broadcast activities as attendance.
Dongshin University explained that broadcasting activities could be counted as course attendance in accordance with its internal regulations. However, the rule did not take into effect until 2015, after the entertainers left the Seoul-based university.
While still enrolled as a student, singer Choo Ga-yeol was also lecturing as a professor for the Department of Applied Music while at the same time studying in the Department of Broadcasting and Entertainment. Supposedly, his class lectures overlapped with his lecturing schedules. He will lose both his degree and his status as an adjunct professor.
That’s not all. According to the education ministry’s inspection, the university gave scholarships worth 59.5 million Korean won (Dh194,079) to some of the singers during the period between 2010 to 2011 without due procedure.
The Ministry of Education decided not only to issue a formal warning but also take disciplinary action against the university’s staff who were also involved in providing professional singers special treatment and will cut financial support to the institution.
