[Semiconductor Talent 'Each Country for Itself']④ Who Teaches Students... No Semiconductor Specialist Professors Either

No Semiconductor Workforce

SKY Universities Have About 10 Semiconductor Professors
Issues Include Research-Centered University Culture
Need to Bring Field Experts as Professors

"The key to how many skilled professionals needed for semiconductor practical work can be trained lies with the faculty." - Kim Yong-seok, Professor, Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, Sungkyunkwan University

Experts unanimously agree that securing faculty is also crucial in nurturing talent. However, the reality in universities is harsh. The government’s manpower acquisition plans do not include faculty recruitment, raising concerns that the focus might be on meeting numbers rather than quality.

According to the related industry on the 24th, the recently announced semiconductor promotion policy, the "Plan to Establish the World's Largest and Best Semiconductor Mega Cluster," does not include measures for university faculty recruitment. The situation of faculty acquisition at universities is not very favorable either. According to various universities, the number of professors primarily researching semiconductors at Seoul National University, Korea University, Yonsei University, and others is around ten each.

Hwang Cheol-seong, Chair Professor of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Seoul National University, expressed concern, saying, "Among the professors in semiconductor contract departments, there are few full-time professors, and many are concurrently appointed from other departments," adding, "This inevitably lowers the quality of education."

This phenomenon is largely attributed to structural problems that hinder faculty expansion. Increasing the number of semiconductor major professors at domestic universities faces various barriers. For national universities, increasing faculty quotas requires complicated procedures such as approval from the Ministry of Education, and even if expansion is achieved with difficulty, university administrations tend to hesitate to hire semiconductor professors citing reasons like 'poor research paper performance.'

Private universities face similar issues. Due to the mature stage of semiconductor technology, professors find it difficult to produce noticeable research outcomes, and prestigious academic journals such as Nature and Science rarely publish semiconductor-related papers, leading universities to reduce semiconductor professor positions in reality.

Professor Kim pointed out, "Universities still evaluate mainly based on research papers, so professors inevitably prioritize writing papers over teaching," adding, "The evaluation system is the biggest problem, but it does not change."

The temporary employment form of contract departments is also problematic. It is particularly pointed out as a factor making it difficult to attract young professors who can teach the latest technologies.

From the companies’ perspective, contract departments are operated to quickly secure personnel who can be immediately deployed to the field after joining, but the instability of professors’ positions after contract expiration makes it difficult to attract young professors capable of teaching the latest technologies to contract departments.

Proposals have been made to secure semiconductor-related experts working in companies or the field as faculty members, but due to wage gaps, prohibitions on concurrent professorships, and other reasons, many hesitate to take on faculty positions.

Instead of semiconductors, there are quite a few cases where professors turn their attention to emerging fields such as artificial intelligence (AI) and quantum computing, judging that demand is higher and income is better.

At the university frontlines, there are calls to strengthen cooperation between the Ministry of Education and companies and to establish flexible faculty recruitment policies. Efforts to create an environment where experts with field experience can work as professors are also important.

Professor Kim said, "Because it is necessary to comprehensively teach various fields of technology evenly, efforts are needed for those with extensive industry experience to come as university professors and fill in the gaps."