Start Applying for the First “Leap Classes”

Pusan National University (PNU) will launch the first “leap classes” from this summer vacation. It is expected to be a useful option for students who want to graduate early and complete a convergence major, as they can take courses that are not offered in semester and seasonal classes.

PNU has announced that it will accept wish lists for leap classes from May 9th. The leap classes will be held in the second half of the seasonal semester during the vacation period. The program aims to “help students expand their knowledge of their majors,” “focus on qualification acquisition,” and “expand their choice of subjects for their majors” during the vacation period. In April last year, the Office of Educational Affairs held an Education Innovation Public Hearing and announced that it would introduce leap classes as part of the “reorganization of the consumer-centered academic system” (reported by "Channel PNU" on April 27th, 2023).

This year, a total of four courses will be held as leap classes, one each in the College of Social Sciences, College of Education, College of Business and College of Human Ecology. These are “Political Writing in the AI Era (Dept. of Political Science and Diplomacy),” “Exploring Ethics and Social Thought (Dept. of Ethics Education),” “Accounting Management (Dept. of Business Administration),” and “Interior Design Drawing (Dept. of Interior and Environmental Design).” The Office of Educational Affairs said that it has collected opinions from the university headquarters and each college since last year to establish the courses. Six departments participated in the research and the course development was completed in March. Four of the courses were actually available and were offered  as summer leap classes this year.

The applicants for the leap classes are students enrolled in the spring semester of 2024 and students on leave of absence who have been granted permission to return for the fall semester of 2024. Even if students took a leave of absence in the spring semester, students can take leap classes as long as students return for the fall semester. For students who enrolled in the first semester, it does not matter if students take a leave of absence in the second semester after taking leap classes. Graduating students are not eligible for the program. If students are taking both seasonal and leap classes, the total credits must not exceed 6.

While students are excited about the new leap classes, they also point out that the number of courses established is too small. After the leap classes guide was published on PNU’s website on May 2nd, complaints about the number of courses were expressed on the university's anonymous online community “Everytime.” “I had a lot of subjects to take, so I was looking forward to the leap classes, however there were no leap classes in my department” said one post on the Department of Electronics Engineering’s board.

In response, PNU announced that it will gradually increase the number of courses starting this year. Han Hye-Jin (Manager, Office of Educational Affairs), said, “Since the establishment of a new course requires physical time and a bit of complicated process, the first leap classes to be implemented this summer were limited to four courses. We will continue to expand the number of participating departments and develop a variety of high-quality courses.”

The application period for this year’s leap classes began on May 16th, and the classes will be held for four weeks from July 22nd to August 16th. PNU announced it will organize leap classes in winter vacation this year after the first implementation in summer vacation. Han said, “In order to implement winter leap classes in the second half of the year, we will continue to develop courses that fit the purpose of introduction.” 

Reporter Yoon Seo-Young

Translated by Seo Yoo-Jung