Professors of KAIST: Between Heaven and Hell

At the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), professors’ futures will now depend on their capability and achievements.

The institute recently appointed three professors--Kim Chung-gi, 64, of computer science, Lee Sang-yeop, 42, of biology and Jang Gi-ju, 53, of physics--as distinguished professors for the first time on March 8.

Seo Nam-pyo, president of KAIST, pledged to adopt a distinguished professor policy when announcing the institute’s plans for the future last year.

Distinguished professors are those who have accomplished some of the best research and educational results in the world. They are appointed after an assessment by domestic and international experts, and are nominated by their university president, vice president, dean, and head of department.

Those appointed are not only given the honor of being called one of Korea’s best professors, but are also offered additional benefits: they get more than a 30% increase in annual salary and are allowed to keep a position as a part-time professor even after retirement.

On contrary, professors whose classes are found to be not helpful to students will lose some of their classes.

A professor whose name was not identified did not have any classes last semester regardless of his or her will. As the professor did not get a good student evaluation score, the school authorities did not allot any classes to the professor, saying, “You must prepare for your classes better.”

Reportedly, the school has set up an internal policy of firing professors who fail to get classes more than three times in a row.

A source from the school said, “The case of this professor was a wake-up call to others. Now they are being very cautious so as not to become the center of university authority attention.”

KAIST has set up another plan, a tenure program, which eventually will let only competitive professors survive. The plan is the first of its kind to be implemented in Korea. Starting this year, every professor in the institute will be required to get an evaluation from the school on their capability and achievements seven years later to stay in the college until retirement.

Jang Soon-heung, KAIST vice president, said, “So far, the tenure program has been applied only to those who have worked for more than seven years as a full-time professor. In the past, professors were able to stay in the college and prolong their contracts with the school despite a bad evaluation. But not anymore.”

mhjee@donga.com