Domestic PhDs Face Discrimination

Kim earned $1,000 per month while working as a research assistant. The state university’s tuition was $8,000 per session and he spent an additional $1,000 per month for living expenses. In total, Kim spent $80,000 (74.4 million won) to earn a PhD overseas. Meanwhile, Lee spent about 50 million won to get a PhD in Korea. Although there is only 24.4 million won difference in terms of cost in earning a PhD, it means much more than that in Korea when it comes to employment.

Employment polarization is very noticeable in Korea between PhD graduates from domestic and overseas universities.

According to data that The Dong-A Ilbo obtained from Rep. Chung Moon-hun of the parliamentary education committee, only 14.5 percent of PhD graduates from domestic universities were hired as professors between 2001 and 2006 in 166 universities nationwide. Meanwhile, 47.5 percent of overseas university PhD holders were hired as professors during the same period, over three times higher than domestic PhD holders.

Out of the 34,425 PhD graduates from domestic universities at that period, 5,008 have become professors, while 4,551 out of the 9,578 PhD graduates from overseas universities became professors. The percentage of domestic PhD graduate employment is even lower if the number of the PhD graduates who had been able to find a teaching position before the period is counted.

Except for medical schools, where over 90 percent of the professors are PhD graduates from domestic universities, the number of domestic PhD graduates employed in that period is just slightly higher than that of overseas PhD graduates. Among the newly appointed 9,559 professors, domestic PhD holders account for 52.4 percent while overseas PhD holders make up 47.6 percent. However, the employment ratios vary depending on the location of universities. Overseas PhD holders are concentrated in universities in the Seoul metropolitan area, while domestic PhD holders are concentrated in provincial universities.

Among the 5,008 professors who earned a PhD in Korean universities, 37.1 percent of them teach at universities in the Seoul metropolitan area while 62.9 percent of them teach at universities outside the Seoul metropolitan area. In contrast, among the 4,551 professors who earned a PhD from overseas universities, 59.4 percent of them teach at universities in the Seoul metropolitan area while 40.6 percent of them teach at universities outside the Seoul metropolitan area. Employment polarization in top nine universities such as Seoul University, Korea University and Yonsei University is even more evident. Out of the 2,099 new professors, domestic PhD holders accounted for only 679, while overseas PhD holders accounted for over twice as many with 1,420.

Furthermore, many domestic PhD graduates have been employed as either visiting professors or temporary professors whose tenure is only up to three years, making their job security more unstable compared to that of overseas PhD graduates.

Between 2004 and 2006, 104 out of 195 universities nationwide hired 2,177 temporary professors. The problem is so severe that even the Ministry of Education & Human Resources Development had to ask universities to improve the situation. Some of the universities did not even give a chance for temporary professors to be reviewed for re-employment.

As PhD graduates from domestic universities face harsh realities, domestic post-graduate schools are encountering a shortage of students. Professors in domestic universities are also facing difficulties in conducting joint projects with post-graduate students, affecting their research results.

ceric@donga.com hjkwon@donga.com