(1) Reasons for Proposal

The Amendment aims to increase the effectiveness of preventing unlawful receipt by raising the limit on the amount subject to additional collection fivefold and increasing the period of limited disposal of support, loans, and training so as to enforce the measures corresponding to the illegal acts of vocational skills development and training institutions, workers and business owners for enhanced management of illegal receipt of subsidies, to reinforce the limited disposal so as to allow measures such as canceling entrustment contracts where the training institutions that provide vocational skills development and training provide false answers to the questions raised by related public officials or decline, interfere with, or avoid any guidance and supervision, to formulate the grounds for designation, cancellation, etc., of the support for operating expenses for specialized research institutes provided by regional human resources development committees so as to enhance the transparency in the administrative procedures, and to newly establish provisions on penalties imposed on those who illegally receive vocational skills development subsidies in collusion with business owners, thereby improving and supplementing some defects found in the operation of the current system. 

(2) Major Provisions

A. Strengthening administrative measures so as to enhance the effectiveness of guidance and supervision by means such as requiring the training institutions that provide vocational skills development and training to enforce corrective measures in the event where the said institutions provide false answers to the questions of relevant public officials or decline, interfere with, or avoid guidance and supervision, in addition to the previously imposed penalty of up to 3 million won or allowing the termination of entrustment contracts and the recognition of training courses (Article 16 (2) 6, Article 19 (2) 8, and Article 24 (2) 8 newly inserted). 

B. Devise the ground provisions for the support, designation, and cancellation of designated and operated specialized research institutes so as to provide support for the demand survey on education and training offered by regional human resources development committees and for the establishment of a master plan for nurturing personnel (Article 22-3 (4) and (5) newly inserted)

C. Enhance the fairness in the name use via amendment that allows the head of a polytechnic college to be named as the president or college dean (Articles 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, and 46)

D. Rename part-time lecturers as lecturers and include lecturers in the teaching staff to enhance their employment stability and status (Articles 43 and 44)

E. Increase the limited period of support, loans, and classes for workers and business owners subject to illegal receipt from 3 years to up to 5 years (Article 55)

F. Mandate the request for return of the amount illegally received in consideration of the adequacy of restriction provisions under the mandatory refund in Article 8 of the “Act on Prohibition of False Claims for Public Funds and Recovery of Illicit Profits” (Article 56 (1) and (2))

G. Impose the amount of additional collection for vocational skills development and training institutions that receive an illegal amount, to correspond to five-times the amount illegally received (1 million) or the same amount, depending on whether the amount of additional collection exceeds or falls below the amount illegally received, and raise the amount of additional collection for workers, business owners, etc., by five times the amount illegally received, which has been previously imposed to match the illegally received amount, irrespective of the amount illegally received or one’s intentionality, so as to ensure uniformity in the prescription (Article 56 (3)) 

H. Provide detailed prescription of the purpose and content of guidance and supervision of vocational skills development and training institutions to require the collection of information on the operation of training institutions such as facilities, equipment, and ledgers, and the operation of training courses such as attendance and teaching staff so as to prevent illegal training and control the quality of vocational training (Article 58 (1) 

I. Newly establish a penalty provision to punish those who receive support or loans in collusion with business owners, by fraudulent, or by any other illegal means by imprisonment of up to 5 years and by a fine of up to 50 million won (Article 62-3 (1) newly inserted)