"Young Scholars Disappear, Only 'Eoreushin' Remain"…Why Domestic Universities Have Zero Nobel Prizes [Reading Science]

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[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bong-su] The aging of university research personnel in South Korea is becoming a serious issue. The proportion of young and mid-career researchers in their 30s and 40s, who drive creative ideas and passionate research, is decreasing. Meanwhile, the number of elderly professors aged 60 and above, who are in their twilight years and have fewer research achievements, is steadily increasing. The gender gap also persists. Although the number of female professors is rising, the reality remains that male professors still constitute the majority (three-quarters). Notably, over the past five years, while the total research and development (R&D) funding has continuously increased, research output (papers) has stagnated, drawing attention to the correlation.

According to the Korea Research Foundation on the 31st, a survey on university research conditions last year revealed that the aging trend among full-time faculty members at four-year universities nationwide is worsening. Over the past five years, the proportion of professors aged 60 and above increased from 18.5% (13,803 people) in 2016 to 21.7% (16,205 people) in 2020. Those aged 50 and below also rose slightly from 38.3% (28,536 people) to 38.6% (28,908 people).

Conversely, the share of young and mid-career professors is steadily declining. Those aged 30 and below decreased from 9.3% (6,940 people) to 9.0% (6,746 people) during the same period. Professors in their 40s dropped from 33.8% (25,182 people) to 30.7% (22,954 people).

Although the number of female professors is increasing, the majority remain male. Among the total 74,813 professors, males account for 74.3% (55,564 people), while females make up only 25.7% (19,249 people). However, the proportion of female professors continues to rise, increasing from 23.1% (17,204 people) in 2016 to 25.7% (19,249 people) in 2020.

In this context, male and elderly professors also dominate research funding. Of the total R&D budget (7.134637 trillion KRW), males received 89.1% (6.353617 trillion KRW), while females received only 10.9% (781.019 billion KRW). By age group, professors in their 50s accounted for nearly half of the total funding at 47.5% (3.385971 trillion KRW), and those aged 60 and above received 16.8% (1.199262 trillion KRW). In total, two-thirds of the R&D budget was allocated to professors in their 50s and 60s. In contrast, professors aged 30 and below received only 5.3% (378.524 billion KRW), and those in their 40s received 30.4% (2.170879 trillion KRW).

This situation is analyzed to be closely related to the fact that although research funding for professors has gradually increased recently, research output has remained stagnant.

The total R&D funding provided to professors increased from 5.6679 trillion KRW in 2016 to 7.1346 trillion KRW in 2020. However, the number of research papers published by professors (based on international professional journals indexed in SCI) did not increase. The number of papers decreased from 68,719 in 2016 to 67,435 in 2018, then slightly rose to 68,672 in 2020. The average number of papers per professor was 0.92 in 2020. By gender, males averaged 0.92 papers, females 0.90 papers, and by age group, professors in their 40s had the highest average at 1.1 papers. Conversely, professors aged 60 and above, who receive the most funding, had the lowest output at 0.65 papers. Those in their 50s averaged 0.95 papers, and those aged 30 and below averaged 0.82 papers.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.