Last year December, Chung-Ang University's headquarters surveyed a total of 1,291 students on their university-wide satisfaction level and opinions on balanced development of both Seoul and Anseong campuses. The main purpose of the survey was to establish a concrete plan for the development of universities. However, the survey revealed that students attending the Anseong Campus had considerable complaints. When asked if the balanced development of the two campuses was successful, students at the Seoul campus scored an average of -0.42 points, while students at the Anseong campus scored a very low -2.49 points on average. The result can be attributed to students' opinion that the Anseong campus is far behind the Seoul campus in various areas, including security system and academic support programs, as well as university facilities. Then let's find out what the inconveniences the students at Anseong Campus experience and what specific efforts are needed to improve it.

In an interview with a Jungdae Newspaper at Chung-Ang University, Astudent in the University of Biotechnology emphasized the need to improve the facilities, explaining that Anseong Campus’cracked asphalt floors and cracked buildings should be repaired even for the sake of ensuring basic university life. The aforementioned survey by the university headquarters showed that the most common answer, at 30.1 percent,students chose was 'improvements in facilities' followed by 'expanding scholarship' when it came to "where do you think the tuition should be spent?". This means that a number of students at Anseong Campus believe that active investment by the school is necessary to improve old facilities. Recognizing that the students' demands were continuously raised, the Anseong Campus Company held a briefing session on the Anseong Campus Development Plan on October 23^rd, presided over by Vice President of the Anseongcampus, Bang Jae-suk. The presentation was attended by some student representatives and the student council of Anseong Campus. The plan for the development of Anseong Campus, which was unveiled during the presentation, includes the idea of campus revitalization based on infrastructure improvement, drawing attention to the future. Lee Gil-woo, director of the department of art, said, "There needs to be a specialized art museum, exhibition space, and other facilities such as video seminars and rooms where students and teachers can interact in the creative process."

Another major problem with Anseong Campus facilities is asbestos. The ratio of asbestos to the total open space of the Anseong campus is 29.45 percent, which is very high compared to only 5.4 percent for the Seoul campus. Asbestos has a risk of causing fatal diseases and cancer in respiratory organs, enough to be designated as a first-tier carcinogen by the World Health Organization. The student council of Anseong Campus also recognized the harmful effects of asbestos and called for quick removal work from the university headquarters. Accordingly, Chung-Ang University has gradually implemented the removal of asbestos from buildings in recent years. In the first semester of 2019, Anseong Campus removed asbestos from six places including building 604,building 809, and the circular building. However, the number of buildings with all asbestos removed remains only eight, the same as two years ago. Even if the university tries to remove asbestos from a building, it is difficult to proceed with it all at once, so it is being divided into several sections. In response, B, a student at Anseong Campus College of Arts, said, "Since most of the students at Anseong Campus spend a lot of time on campus, health problems should be solved as soon as possible."

The university headquarters' survey also revealed the level of satisfaction Chung-Ang University students feel about tuition fees. The overall average was -0.87 points, indicating that the majority of students were dissatisfied with their tuition. In particular, the level of dissatisfaction among students at the art university, located in Anseong Campus, was strongest with an average score of -2.09. This is expected to be due to the lack of support from the school, even though tuition fees for students at art colleges are set significantly higher than those in other majors. In fact, according to the announcement by University Alimi, a university information service website, the average annual tuition for Chung-Ang University's Seoul campus students stood at 7,879,000 won in 2019, compared with 8,657,700 won for Anseong Campus students. On March 4^th, some pictures were posted by an anonymous music college student on the university community application 'Everytime’. The pictures, comparing the Anseong Campus and Seoul Campus' concert hall, drew keen attention.Compared to the recital hall set on Seoul Campus Art Center, the recital hall of Anseong Campus showed a very small size and an old interior. The student expressed deep regret that the graduation exhibition should be held in these underdeveloped facilities and insisted that the Anseong campus needs sufficient support. Furthermore, the cost of competitions and exhibitions has been high. For the Department of Design, the amount of money spent to prepare for the graduation exhibition amounts to 1.5 million won or more.Lee Min-wook, the president of the student council, said, "I hope not only the scholarship fund for arts and physical education but also the support for competition expenses such as the Concours will be expanded."

CAH had the opportunity to ask a student a few questions about her thoughts on the situation:

I am double majoring in art at Chung-Ang University Anseong Campus and social science at Seoul Campus. So, I have experience of taking classes on both campuses.

As many students at Anseong Campus feel, I think the Anseong Campus is very different from the Seoul Campus in terms of the management of school facilities. Personally, I felt the biggest difference is in the security system. I heard that there was an unidentified assailant's intrusion a few years ago at the women's dormitory at Chung-Ang University's Anseong Campus. Many of female classmates, including myself, are in a state of anxiety because of such lax school security. After attending both campuses, I felt that the overall security system of Anseong Campus, such as the number of CCTV cameras and the way buildings are managed, was poor compared to that of Seoul Campus.

The Anseong Campus is located in a relatively sparsely populated area and has a wider distance between buildings compared to the Seoul Campus. Therefore, if the facility is not properly managed, students will be threatened with safety issues. I think the starting point of Chung-Ang University's development should be to motivate students to learn by instilling satisfaction with school. To promote their satisfaction, the most basic factor of safety of students must be guaranteed, and this requires a lot of effort from the university. It is expected that the harmony and balanced development of students at Anseong Campus and Seoul Campus will be achieved by properly identifying improvements within each campus.

 

The voices of students calling for the overall development of the Anseong campus have been continuously raised. However, the school has not taken any active measures to fix things, and as a result, complaints from students have not been resolved. Students of Anseong Campus are suffering from a shortage of academic materials as well as aging facilities, despite paying relatively higher tuition fees. The growth of Chung-Ang University requires balanced development of Anseong Campus as well as Seoul Campus. Therefore, Chung-Ang University should regularly listen to the opinions of students from both campuses and make efforts to create the best environment for them to concentrate on their studies.