Guaranteeing Postdoctoral Researcher Status... Improving Treatment of Science and Engineering Graduate Students Too

The 2nd Talent Development Strategy Meeting Held
Discussion on Support Measures for Talent in Science and Engineering Fields

The government will legally guarantee the status of postdoctoral researchers (postdocs) by explicitly including them in relevant laws and improve the system so that science and engineering master's and doctoral students can receive a certain level of wages and focus on research.

On the 26th, the government held the 2nd Talent Development Strategy Meeting chaired by Prime Minister Han Duck-soo at the Seoul Government Complex, where they discussed the "Support Measures for Talent in Science and Engineering" containing these details.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

First, they plan to amend the Higher Education Act to explicitly include postdoctoral researchers as university members alongside faculty and administrative staff. This measure reflects the reality that postdocs are currently in a blind spot of support systems because they are not specified in related laws.

The number of science and technology specialist officers conducting research at the Agency for Defense Development as commissioned officers, allowing continuous research while fulfilling military service, will increase from 25 this year to 50 by 2026. The support target will also be expanded from current undergraduate students to master's degree students.

Along with this, the government will reorganize the wage and scholarship systems for science and engineering master's and doctoral students. They plan to restructure projects so that graduate students can receive a certain percentage or more of wages when conducting research tasks and ensure that a certain portion of collective research funds is allocated to student wages.

The system will also be improved to allow student wages in government research and development (R&D) projects to be raised from the current 2.2 million KRW per month for master's students and 3 million KRW per month for doctoral students.

A Presidential Science Scholarship for graduate students will also be introduced to expand national scholarship support for science and engineering graduate students.

For gifted schools nurturing youth talent in science and engineering fields, a performance evaluation system will be introduced from next year, providing incentives to schools evaluated as excellent.

Additionally, each education office will designate science high schools as "autonomous schools," allowing flexible curriculum arrangements such as reducing credits for some subjects.

The government is also considering measures to support reemployment in small and medium-sized enterprises for retired researchers to facilitate continuous career development.

By amending the "Women in Science and Technology Act," the government plans to prepare support measures for female researchers' career development, such as providing care support or introducing position target systems.

On the same day, the government also announced the "Eco-Up Talent Development Plan" for nurturing talent in the green industry and the "Mid- to Long-Term Strategy for Energy Workforce Development" to foster new energy industries.

To cultivate 80,000 additional green talents by 2027, the government will expand fields according to corporate demand for specialized graduate schools (advanced level) and specialized high schools (basic level), and newly designate leading and innovative convergence universities (intermediate level).

They will operate an "Eco-Up Innovative Convergence University" from this year, offering interdisciplinary education programs across various academic disciplines and majors without restrictions on course enrollment.

Furthermore, to nurture 20,000 energy specialists by 2030, the government plans to prepare and announce in July a roadmap for training fundamental technology, convergence, and industrial personnel in 118 projects across 14 promising fields such as nuclear power, energy efficiency, and hydrogen.

The number of energy convergence graduate schools will expand from the current 16 to 20 by 2025, and a "Export Specialized Talent Development Program" will be newly established to promote joint energy policy research with top global universities and research institutions.

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