Over 20% of SNU Students Delay Graduation

A bleak job market isn’t an ``exception’’ to students at Korea’s top university.

With students at many other universities delaying their graduation to find jobs, a Seoul National University (SNU) report Thursday showed its own students have been increasingly graduating later than the regular eight semester period over the past five years.

In 2001, 24.4 percent of SNU students graduated after nine semesters. In 2002 it was 25.3 percent then 27.7 percent in 2003, and in 2004 it was 28 percent.

Students who finished 10 semesters before actual graduation increased from 12.1 percent in 2001 to 14.2 percent in 2004.

As companies prefer current university students to graduates, students tend to delay their graduation until they land their jobs.

However, for SNU students this trend is rising not because they cannot find jobs but because the availabillity of stable and promising jobs has reduced due to the sluggish economy. Even though they can find a job easily, they are not satisfied with the job offers.

``It is not important whether I get a job or not, but whether I land a job where I can extend my dream,” said Oh Chong-ik, a senior majoring in Social Studies Education at SNU. ``So I will not hurry in finding a job until I find one that fits me.’’

``Many of my friends who are still in school are very serious at choosing their jobs, so they take much time to prepare for their future,” said Maing Pil-soo who graduated from SNU’s Department of Architecture in 2004.

Also, many SNU students leave school to prepare for civil service examinations with data showing the colleges of law, business administration, and social sciences having distinctively high figures since many students from these schools study for government officer positions.

``SNU students have faith that they will not fail to get jobs, but they want more decent jobs that can guarantee them living a well off life,’’ an official at the SNU Career Development Center said.