Universities said Monday they would no longer allow students to postpone graduation without signing up for new semesters, sparking complaints from students seeking to buy time to stack up academic credentials before entering the job market.

Ewha Womans University recently announced it would introduce a “degree completion” policy for students who acquired all the necessary college credits for graduation, but failed to submit their thesis or take the graduation exams. The move effectively blocks students from retaining their status as an incumbent student without registering for a new semester while seeking a job.

Due to the prolonged economic slump that froze the job market, it has become common for university students to delay their graduation until they land a job. Several companies are known to discriminate against graduates when recruiting new workers, and it is common for internship opportunities to be offered exclusively to current students.

“Over the past few years, it has become harder to find a job. Students are postponing graduation in a bid to buy time to become more qualified (for jobs),” said a 28-year-old graduate student at a Seoul-based university.

To delay their graduation, students usually register for extra semesters or deliberately refuse to hand-in the assignments required to graduate. The latter is usually preferred as the former requires considerable amount of tuition fees that virtually serves no purpose academically.

Ewha’s new policy, however, made it impossible for its students to use the second option. A student of the university said although students who “completed” the course are technically not graduates, it is still likely to hurt their chances since they are no longer considered an incumbent university member.

“On top of that, they told us this important decision right before the semester, which was inconsiderate,” she said.

Other universities like Konkuk University are also making it mandatary for students to register in order to be considered an active member of the university.

Observers said the universities’ measure is likely to drive students to register for extra semesters rather than to risk entering the job market early.

Prolonging the school years for graduation has already become a dominant trend in Korea. Data revealed by Rep. Park Chang-sik of Saenuri Party showed 2,276 students in 2013 registered themselves for nine or more semesters in a bid to put off graduation.

As a result, it is taking more time than before for young people to find work. According to Korea Employment Information Service, the average age of new employees at companies with 100 or more workers was 33.2 for men and 28.6 for women. Another survey by Saramin showed 76.2 percent of the companies thought the average age for job applicants was rising.

The trend of older job applicants appears to have changed the definition of “youth” in the job market. State-run institutes are mandated to allocate 3 percent of their jobs to youngsters. Last year, the definition of “youth” in the cited regulation was changed from 29 or younger to 34 or younger.

By Yoon Min-sik (minsikyoon@heraldcorp.com)