National Research Institute Management Evaluation Cycle Extended from '1 Year to 3 Years'... Criticism of 'Albakgi' During Regime Change Period

[Asia Economy Sejong=Reporter Son Seon-hee] The government is pushing to extend the research and management evaluation cycle of government-funded research institutes in the economic and humanities-social sciences sectors from the current one year to three years.

According to the Office for Government Policy Coordination on the 7th, the Office and the National Research Council for Economics, Humanities and Social Sciences have been working on reforming the related evaluation system, considering requests such as reducing the evaluation burden raised at the meeting between Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum and government-funded research institutes in the economic and humanities-social sciences sectors last June.

The reform plan includes introducing a three-year evaluation system linked to the term of the institute head and adopting autonomous indicators reflecting the characteristics of each institute. The Office explained the purpose as "to strengthen the autonomy and responsibility of research institutes and to promote mid- to long-term convergence research."

The Office stated that since government-funded research institutes in the science and technology sector already conduct management evaluations every three years, this reform is intended to ensure fairness. The final decision on this reform plan will be made after deliberation and resolution by the board of the National Research Council for Economics, Humanities and Social Sciences.

However, some have pointed out that this reform plan could effectively extend the evaluation period for heads of national research institutes appointed by the current government, making it difficult to replace them based on evaluation scores, thus suggesting it may be an attempt at de facto "entrenchment."

In response, the Office explained, "There have been difficulties in conducting mid- to long-term convergence research, and we have continuously proposed extending the evaluation cycle."

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