SNU to hire 150 foreign professors in next decade

Seoul National University (SNU) will boost its hiring of foreign professors and test their skills at teaching foreign languages as part of efforts to promote the school¡¯s globalization and create a more academic atmosphere.

Officials said that some 150 foreign professors, about 10 percent of the university¡¯s total faculty, would be employed in the next 10 years starting this year and that the university would soon begin raising the necessary funds to finance the hiring plan.

¡°The university has decided to hire foreigners who have outstanding academic credentials or have won international awards as full-time professors. To begin with, five will be recruited this year and the number will increase as soon as adequate funds are raised,¡± an SNU official said Saturday.

The official explained that the funds would be used to give financial incentives to foreign professors, pointing out that the school's status as a national university prevents it from paying foreign professors higher salaries than their Korean counterparts.

¡°If we find Korean scholars who have the proper academic credentials we will also attempt to bring them aboard by offering better financial incentives than those received by other professors,¡± he said.

In the past, SNU has employed two Korean professors of foreign citizenship but neither one was a full-time professor.

The university also decided to include a foreign-language test in the screening of candidates for the posts and strengthen the examination of research activities when re-appointing or promoting professors. SNU will also introduce a system to re-examine academic appointments, under which the university will conduct another screening if it receives a complaint about a professor's performance.

Ha Joon-Woo hawoo@donga.com