EVERY SEMESTER, students stress over course registrations, as panic and dread await those who were unsuccessful in enrolling in their desired courses. Students from the School of Economics experienced this feeling in advance, following a notice uploaded onto their bulletin board on August 12, the first day of course registration for the 2022 Fall semester. The notice announced that there were no more seats available for six major elective classes due to them being filled after early registration via the UIC-first policy[1]. Following this announcement, students who had planned on taking any of those six classes had to find an alternative course and reorganize their entire schedule on short notice. Many students proceeded to express their frustrations on the social media platform “Everytime.”

An explanation of UIC-first

   Currently, Yonsei University offers economics courses conducted in English, which are shared by the School of Econ. and Economics majors from the Underwood International College’s (UIC) Underwood Division (UD). With there being a limited number of courses conducted in English, the UIC-first system was implemented to assist UIC students complete their graduation requirements by giving them an upper hand when enrolling in these courses.

   UIC-first is an early course registration system offered for UIC students in UD, Quantitative Risk Management (QRM), Political Science & International Relations, and Comparative Literature & Culture. Prior to the start of course registration, a list of all the courses enrollable through UIC-first is shared with UIC students, who then submit a form with all their desired UIC-first courses. For every course they register for via the UIC-first system, four times the credits given for that course are taken away from their total mileage points[2]. This means that every semester, UIC students from certain divisions can pre-register for up to six courses with their UIC-first privilege. These students can use the UIC-first system beginning from their sophomore year, when they have classes held on Sinchon campus[3]. UIC-first is often used to register for popular classes that are difficult to get into during regular course registration.

The controversy around UIC-first

   Students have compared the UIC-first policy to the early course registration system in place for non-UIC Economics majors to emphasize the disparities between the two groups. One of the controversial aspects of UIC-first registration is that every student that applies for a course is automatically enrolled. In an interview with The Yonsei Annals, Student A from the School of Econ., who wished to remain anonymous, explained how they could not even attempt to register for one of their desired classes—Professor Hahn Sun-ku’s Games Theory and Applications class—because it was filled up by UIC students after UIC-first registration despite the class having a quota of over 300.

   Additionally, students have mentioned how UD Economics majors are not the only ones allowed to apply via the UIC-first system for economics classes—students who double major in UIC Economics, UIC QRM students, as well as those who double major in UIC QRM are also able to enjoy the same benefits, making it even more difficult for students from the School of Econ. to register for their desired courses[4]. Student A did not believe it was a fair system since the School of Econ. and UD Economics are completely separate departments; moreover, they thought it made little sense to prevent School of Econ. majors from enrolling in their own major courses.

   This enrollment system contrasts the more restrictive regulations set for non-UIC Economics students’ early registration system, which is only available starting from their junior year. For these students, there is a set limit of 50% of the class’ total number of seats that can be reserved through early registration. Thus, even if students apply successfully, there is no guarantee of getting in. Additionally, only students whose primary major is Economics can apply, excluding those who are double majoring in Economics. There is also a difference in the number of courses one can apply for through early registration. School of Econ. students can only put down three level 3,000 or 4,000 courses on the early registration form and successfully pre-register for up to two of them. This means that even if they apply for early registration, they might only get one or none of the courses they wanted[1]. While representatives of the university were contacted to discuss this situation, there was no response.

A UD Economics student’s perspective

   In an interview with the Annals, Student B from UD Economics, who wished to remain anonymous, explained how the UIC-first system helped them enroll in their desired major courses, which are quite competitive as they are part of the graduation requirement for all Economics majors. They also believed that without UIC-first, it would be difficult to take enough major electives and complete their course requirements. This is especially important since both UD Economics students and School of Econ. students can enroll in economics courses conducted in English. While Student B does agree that UD Economics students have a significantly easier course registration process, they pointed out that non-UIC students have other lectures to choose from. They also argued that course registration is particularly difficult for non-Korean UIC students who have no choice but to take these courses conducted in English to obtain enough credits each semester.

Looking to the future

   This is an issue that is not unfamiliar to students at Yonsei University. Last year, both candidates for the College of Commerce & Economics and School of Business student council recognized this issue and included policies about alleviating the situation surrounding the UIC-first registration system in their campaigns. This year, ECONnect, the UD Economics student council, included a policy about increasing the number of available UIC-first courses in their election campaign[5]. In an interview with the Annals, the emergency student council for the College of Commerce & Economics and School of Business explained that it was holding discussions about this issue with the university, but that relieving the situation was difficult due to various undisclosed internal and external reasons. However, the council responded to requests to expand the number of seats in a class during the course add-and-drop period. They added that, within the council, they want to be able to reserve a minimum number of seats in UIC-first classes for students registering during the normal course registration period. ECONnect was also contacted for an interview but refused to express its opinion on the matter.

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   The controversy surrounding early course registration has been ongoing for some time and is likely to continue unless active change is made to the system. Finding a middle ground will be difficult as both of the Economics departments at Yonsei have contrasting opinions on UIC-first. Perhaps the solution is for the university to make a clear distinction between School of Econ. classes and UD Economics classes, especially since they are supposed to be two separate departments. Giving one group of students unobstructed advantages in registering for courses that are shared by another group is fundamentally inequitable, as is forcing departments that are limited to courses conducted in English to compete with another considerably large department for seats. Issues are bound to occur, inevitably generating criticism from both sides. The school has yet to address this issue in a meaningful way and only time will tell whether a resolution is reached that satisfies both parties.

[1] Yonsei University School of Economics

[2] Mileage system: From sophomore year, Yonsei students are given a set number of mileage points they can use to “bid” for classes.

[3] Underwood International College

[4] Everytime

[5] 15th UD Economics student council ECONnect Facebook page