The English Translation Major in the Department of English Language & Literature is in danger of being discontinued. This action was suggested at a faculty meeting in June. It was suggested at a committee meeting on July 3 that the English Translation Major be discontinued and combined with the English Language & Literature Major. Some of the reasons being given to justify this action are: the low rates of selection of the English Translation Major, lack of competitiveness due to low quality, the low percentage of graduates who find employment, difficulties in managing lectures, as well as the inability to attract qualified faculty to implement the curriculum.
The final decision has not been made yet. However, if the discontinuation and unification of the major is approved at the final conference, English Translation will not be given new students after 2010. Students who are currently enrolled in the major will be able to continue and complete the course work if they wish.
This suggestion was discussed during a faculty meeting over the summer break and students were made aware of the situation only through the General Student Coucil of Yeungnam University and the Office of Academic Affairs. About 10 students of the English Translation Major had a meeting with the faculty on July 22. These students objected to the proposal. However, the faculty said that it would be difficult to change their plans.
Recently there have been many cases where curriculum and majors have been radically changed or discontinued all together unbeknownst to the students. Lack of interest and funds are the reasons universities abolish curriculums. However, this is not the case with Yeungnam University's English Translation Major. The percentage of employment for graduates proposed by the faculty is unreasonable due to the fact that the English Translation Major has been established for less than two years. The university should have prepared better before they opened the department.
The main point of the students' complaint is that only the faculty discussed these problems during the summer vacation without conversation or prior consultation with students. It seems that the department is so stiff-necked about going through with their decision that it has no desire to communicate. We still wonder if the department thought about any alternatives and endeavored to find any qualified staff to teach the major before they decided on this action.
