Former KAIST professor moves to Chinese university amid talent exodus

Song Ik-ho, a KAIST emeritus professor of electrical engineering who became KAIST’s youngest faculty member at 28 in 1988, recently joined a Chinese university. The move comes as concerns grow over the accelerating trend of top Korean scholars moving abroad, raising concerns over the need for urgent countermeasures.

The scientific community reported on Sept. 23 that Song, who retired in February, joined the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China (UESTC) in Chengdu to serve at its Institute for Basic and Advanced Sciences. Song, a leading expert in communications and signal processing theory, served at KAIST for 37 years until last year.

KAIST offers a program allowing professors to continue teaching and conducting research after retirement if they secure over 300 million won in annual research funding. Song appears to have chosen to move to China rather than take advantage of the program.

UESTC, where Song recently joined, is one of the universities restricted by the U.S. over national security concerns. The institution cannot collaborate with U.S. research institutions or import advanced U.S. components for research. Despite these sanctions, the academic community views Song’s move as a strategic step to secure stable research opportunities.

A May survey by The Dong-A Ilbo and the Korean Academy of Science and Technology of 200 regular members found that 61.5% had received offers from overseas research institutions over the past five years. Of those, 82.9% received offers from China. Among researchers aged 65 and older, the standard retirement age, 72.7% reported receiving offers from overseas institutions.

One domestic researcher said, “China reaches out frequently because it knows that post-retirement scholars in Korea face a challenging environment for continuing research.”

In response, the Korean government has launched a public-private task force to prevent the outflow of scientific and technical talent and retain domestic researchers. A comprehensive science and engineering talent policy is expected to be announced later this month.


최지원 jwchoi@donga.com