The University of Seoul (UOS) ranked second in the ‘Integrity Assessment (of National & Public Universities)’ evaluation. Its result came out on Dec. 23, 2019. It is remarkable in that there are only two universities that ranked above second place since 2016 including UOS. It’s beneficial for universities to attain high grades because they can win advantageous policies or support from the government if they received good evaluations that year.

The Integrity Assessment (of National & Public Universities) is a political system that evaluates the integrity of national and public universities in Korea. Since 2012, the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission has developed a separate model for measuring the integrity of different types of institutions close to people's lives, such as local, university, and medical services. UOS received 8.21 points, which is higher than the average of other four year national and public universities of 7.69 points.

This is not the first time to receive a high grade. UOS had received the first place in the ‘Integrity Assessment (of National & Public Universities)’ evaluation which was conducted in 2016. After receiving the first place in 2016, UOS made efforts to keep good grades since 2016 and therefore, UOS could maintain the high ranking. In order to improve its integrity, UOS established and implemented a comprehensive plan to improve the integrity based on the practice concept of "public discipline." The plan is based on efforts to establish discipline in public offices at home and abroad, raise awareness of integrity and self-diagnose integrity through a solid internal control system. Also, starting with integrity education for faculty members, UOS is continuously creating a sound communication environment through disclosure of details on the execution of business promotion expenses and sending out text messages on integrity. Since October 2019, the dean's business promotion expenses have also been disclosed on the Seoul Metropolitan Government's website, and related data have been shared by installing "Cheongjung Story" on the website to spread the atmosphere of improving integrity in the university community.

Suh Soon-tak, the president of UOS, said, "We believe that it would not have been possible without the participation and efforts of members of the school, and we will continue to work hard to create a clean university by emphasizing the participation of university members.”

Sim Jun-sung