Korea's Human Resource Competitiveness Ranks 31st in OECD... Severe Shortage of Professors to Nurture Talent [Tech War, Birth of Advanced Nations]

Government Blindly Sets Targets
Urgent Need to Reform System for Nurturing Technical Talent through Faculty Recruitment and Credit Exchange among Universities

440,000 Full-Time Researchers in Science and Technology
One-Quarter of China, One-Third of the US
Absolute Number of Researchers is Crucial

31st in OECD for Per Capita Higher Education Spending
23rd in Worker Competency Development Evaluation, Low Ranking
"Urgent to Secure Faculty for Undergraduate and Graduate Programs
Increase Student Numbers by Expanding University Quotas"

Students of the Department of Semiconductor Engineering at Sungkyunkwan University creating and experimenting with moving robots during the mandatory course 'Creative Engineering Design.' (Photo by Asia Economy DB)

[Asia Economy Reporters Sunmi Park, Chaeseok Moon]

"The government is (prematurely) listing only the annual and industry-specific talent development target numbers. Instead of blindly presenting target figures, it should first reform the system, such as securing professors, credit exchange between universities, and integrated curricula." - Professor Hanggu Lee, Department of Mechanical and Automotive Engineering, Hoseo University, former researcher at the Korea Institute for Industrial Economics and Trade

Although the Yoon Seok-yeol administration has expressed its commitment to fostering strategic technologies with a super-gap strategy, there are ongoing criticisms that Korea still lacks an environment where talents who pose challenging questions can continuously grow. The number of researchers in Korea’s science and technology sector has steadily increased, but it is only enough to keep up with the pace of technological development and is far from sufficient to lead advanced technologies. Even large corporations that spare no investment in securing future technologies are struggling due to 'talent acquisition' issues.

The Condition of Technological Advanced Countries: ‘Human Resources’

According to the latest 'Research and Development Activity Survey Report' by the Ministry of Science and ICT, the number of researchers, which was only 375,176 in 2011, increased by 48% to 558,045 as of 2020. The total workforce, including researchers and research assistants directly involved in R&D activities, currently reaches 747,288.

However, the number of full-time equivalent (FTE) researchers, considering participation rates, is 446,739, and the total R&D personnel including assistants is 545,435, which lags behind China (2.1 million, as of 2019), the United States (1.55 million, as of 2018), Japan (680,000, as of 2019), and Germany (450,000, as of 2019). Based on FTE, Korea has 16 researchers per 1,000 economically active population and 8.6 researchers per 1,000 population, ranking first in the world, but in absolute numbers, it is only about one-quarter of China’s and one-third of the United States’. Experts point out Korea’s research workforce limitations because technological innovation requires a larger absolute number of researchers rather than just a high number per 1,000 population.

According to an analysis of the 2021 'Global Human Capital Competitiveness Index' by the Federation of Korean Industries, Korea’s human capital competitiveness ranked 24th out of 38 OECD countries, placing it in the lower-middle tier. Particularly, the 'growth potential' category, which measures talent development through vocational education and skills training, ranked 25th. Government expenditure per tertiary education student was only $5,773, ranking 31st out of 37 OECD countries. Compared to countries with high global human capital competitiveness rankings such as Luxembourg ($45,567) and Switzerland ($25,713), this is significantly lower. The vocational education enrollment rate for the 15-24 age group was 14.3%, ranking 22nd out of 34 OECD countries. In the category evaluating worker skill development, Korea scored 59.64 points, ranking 23rd out of 38 OECD countries, indicating poor performance not only in education but also in actual vocational skill development.

Shortage of Industrial Technology Personnel: 36,450

According to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and the Korea Institute for Advancement of Technology, as of the end of 2020, the shortage of industrial technology personnel reached 36,450. The shortage is severe in sectors driving Korea’s industrial competitiveness, including software (6,188), professional scientific and technical services (3,164), semiconductors (1,621), automobiles (2,290), and bio-health (1,131).

The Yoon Seok-yeol administration has judged that talent development is urgent to nurture strategic technologies responsible for economic security, and plans to focus education on strengthening the function of cultivating science and technology talent. Experts unanimously agree that securing full-time professors is urgent for proper talent development. Companies want talents who have been intensively trained from basics to practical skills in specialized technologies such as 'system semiconductor design,' 'semiconductor maintenance practice,' 'future car operating system (OS) program development,' and 'secondary battery capacity R&D' starting from the first year of undergraduate studies. Students should frequently gain factory work experience in places like Suwon, Pangyo, and Ulsan from their undergraduate years. This reduces trial and error such as retraining experienced workers. Ki-hyun Ahn, Executive Director of the Korea Semiconductor Industry Association, said, "First, we must secure as many teaching staff as possible to teach undergraduate, master’s, and doctoral students. Second, we need to increase the number of students by expanding enrollment quotas. Third, we must improve the educational environment to ensure practical training is effective. To produce a large number of bachelor’s graduates in the relevant fields, we must absolutely increase the quantity of professors, not just the quality."

Professor Lee also advised, "Realistically, to cultivate advanced technology personnel, an 'education' process that maximizes the use of metropolitan area university and factory infrastructure is necessary, but due to the Capital Region Readjustment Planning Act enacted in 1982, even expanding enrollment quotas is not possible. In short, even universities where talent production should be concentrated cannot increase the number of major students or easily recruit professors. Systematic reform must come first."

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