Different Rules by Building: A Long Wait to Reclaim Lost Items

At Pusan National University(PNU)’s Busan campus, the absence of a consistent lost-and-found policy has left students facing ongoing confusion and inconvenience.

According to Channel PNU’s coverage on September 18th, PNU’s Busan campus was found to handle lost-and-found items separately at security offices, administration offices, and department offices in each building, without a unified system for receiving and storing them. Despite the fact that PNU has 151 buildings across its four campuses—Busan, Yangsan, Miryang, and Ami—there is still no consistent policy for managing lost items.

The dormitories, libraries, and several colleges have established their own methods for storing lost items. The library operates multiple collection points, including the information desk in the subject reference room, the return desk on the first floor, and the first-floor security office. The College of Social Sciences keeps a lost-and-found box in front of its administration office, the College of Humanities has a lost-and-found basket near the security office, and the College of Information and Biomedical Engineering stores items in department offices. However, most of the remaining 13 colleges handle lost items arbitrarily, without clear guidelines. In cases where the owner can be identified, colleges sometimes contact the student directly through enrollment records, but if not, no further action is taken.

Because of this situation, students complain of inconvenience whenever they lose belongings. While some naturally think of security offices, administration offices, or department offices, many do not know the exact locations. Lee Min-Hyuk (Dept. of Computer Science and Engineering, 25) said, “I don’t know where I’m supposed to turn in a lost item. It’s even more confusing in buildings that are commonly used by students from various departments.” Cho Seo-Young (Dept. of Business Administration, 23), who reported losing a keyring in October 2024, added, “I lost it outside of my department’s building and didn’t know where to ask, which left me confused.”

Because there is no centralized lost-and-found facility, the way finders handle lost items varies, adding to the confusion of students trying to retrieve them. PNU student A (23), who reported losing a wallet at Saebyeokbeol Library in June 2025, said, “The wallet I lost in the library later turned up at the Social Sciences security office. It was troublesome because I had to retrace every step to find it.” Cho added, “On such a large campus, with inquiry points scattered across buildings, even the motivation to recover lost items diminishes.”

Although PNU’s official website hosts a lost-and-found board, it has drawn criticism for being ineffective, as there are virtually no posts. Even the notices on the board focus only on usage rules. As a result, students have little choice but to rely on the anonymous online community “Everytime,” yet its lost-and-found board is also inactive. Cho commented, “Unlike other universities, PNU’s Everytime lost-and-found board does not function properly. Unless the item is expensive, it’s difficult to track down smaller, less valuable belongings even there.”

In contrast, some universities have established campus-wide systems for managing lost items. At Gachon University, lost items are first handled in the building where they are found, but after a designated period, they are transferred to the Scholarship & Welfare Team in accordance with internal regulations and guidelines. Pukyong National University has appointed a staff member in the Academic Affairs Office to oversee lost items and operates a community board on its website where anyone can post information. The board is actively used, with more than eight pages of posts registered to date.

In response, PNU’s Division of Student Affairs acknowledged the need to establish guidelines and measures for lost-and-found management. The Student Welfare Team told reporters, “We agree that comprehensive guidelines are necessary to reduce students’ inconvenience,” while adding, “Because lost items involve not only students but also visitors and faculty, discussions across multiple departments will be required.”

Reporter Park Seon-Young

Translated by Seo Young-Chae