On March 13, 2012, the Seoul Administrative Court ruled that an order rendered by the Minister of Education, Science and Technology (“MEST”) for closing down Sunghwa College, which was then operated by Educational Foundation Serim Academy (“EFSA”) and dissolving EFSA, is enforceable. (Administrative Court Decision, 2012 Da 326, March 13, 2012)
On August 1, 2011, under a decision resulting from a special audit, the MEST rendered a corrective order, ordering EFSA to: (a) take disciplinary action against the ex-college president of Sunghwa College operated by EFSA and its faculty members and staff, and (b) cancel grades awarded to its students and graduates. However, most of the order was unfortunately not complied with by EFSA. Thus, on December 16, 2011, the MEST finally ordered that Sunghwa College, with a 2,000 student body, should be closed down and the EFSA should be dissolved, finding no possibility of continuing ordinary academic affairs.
In response, EFSA then filed a petition for continuance, arguing that certain procedural requirements for the decision were not satisfied, and that the decision was unlawful for the reason of abusing or exceeding the MEST’s discretion. However, the Seoul Administrative Court did not accept EFSA’s arguments and held that the MEST’s decision was within its discretion, when taking into consideration a number of violations by Sunghwa College of applicable laws and regulations and the MEST’s order, and also the circumstances that Sunghwa College’s academic affairs were rather improperly conducted. To the contrary, the court finds that the stay of the effectiveness of the order would incur greater damages to students and faculty members and staff.” As a result, the Court dismissed the case, finding that there was no chance that EFSA would win the main lawsuit on the issue of effectiveness of the MEST’s decision, and that it could not recognize the urgent needs for the stay of execution of the order.
Recently, the MEST announced a new policy to weed out underqualified colleges on a consistent basis in order to protect students’ rights to proper education and to enforce a standard minimum quality of college education. This case is significant in that the Court has affirmed the validity of the MEST’s first-ever decisiision to close down a college pursuant to the above policy.