Schools accused of false promotion to face penalties

SEOUL, Aug. 9 (Yonhap) -- Starting from the fall semester, colleges that exaggerate the employment rate of their graduates or scholarship benefits will face tough administrative penalties, including suspension from accepting new students, the education ministry said Tuesday.
So far, there have been no legal grounds to punish schools for promoting themselves with false data. But the government revised a regulation on school information disclosure to make it possible to take punitive measures against such schools, the ministry said.
The regulation passed the Cabinet on Tuesday and is set to take effect on Aug. 20.
Under the revision, the education minister and local education chiefs can order schools to correct misleading information or exaggerated advertisements about their institutions, the ministry said.
Schools that do not take corrective measures could face disadvantages, including reduction in the entrance quota, classes or major departments and even suspension of student admissions in the worst case, officials said.
Last year, 19 colleges nationwide were found to have posted false information on the employment rate of their graduates and scholarship ranking, but they only received warnings from the state watchdog, according to the ministry.