Sabbatical year or golfing year?

A sabbatical year originates from Jewish tradition. The process of Jews entering Canaan with streams of milk and honey as nomads after escaping Egypt connotes the agro nationalization of the Jews. Jehovah, the Jewish god, ordered the Jews, "Do not cultivate land or plant seeds on the seventh year. Whatever grows up on its own there, let the poor among your people eat them." It stemmed from wisdom meant to prevent soil degradation by allowing a year of repose. The measure was also taken due to fears that unity in nomadic society would break down due to a widening gap between the rich and poor in the agricultural society.

The term "sabbatical year" is used to refer to a long-term leave geared toward research and retraining. Universities are representative of organizations that give sabbaticals. American universities do not automatically grant sabbaticals, however. A university dean can grant a sabbatical in his capacity only to a professor who has continued to produce good research and submit well-prepared research proposals. Most professors on sabbatical receive full salary for the first six months and half that amount for the rest of the year.

At Korean universities, most professors leave for sabbaticals in a practice that took root after candidates for university presidents raced to pledge sabbaticals to all professors since the introduction of the direct voting system for university presidents` election. If all professors benefit from sabbaticals, one in seven professors get sabbaticals at a university. Unlike American universities, Korean universities pay full salary for the entire year to a professor on sabbatical, so they spend lots of money on this practice.

Insiders in Korean universities call a sabbatical year a "research year" but quite a few professors are criticized for playing golf and traveling rather than doing research while on leave. There is no reason a sabbatical should last for a year. In the U.S., universities grant a "sabbatical year" or "sabbatical term." German universities call it "Forschungssemester," or research term. The University of Suwon in Korea has frozen student tuition" for three years through cost cutting efforts, including changing a sabbatical year to a sabbatical term. If college tuition is to be lowered, colleges need not only government assistance but universities and professors themselves should also tighten their belts.

Editorial Writer Song Pyeong-in (pisong@donga.com)