110,000 KRW Monthly Scholarship for Science and Engineering Graduate Students Participating in National R&D

President Yoon Attends Livelihood Forum in Daejeon
"Supporting STEM Students to Focus on Research Without Tuition Worries"
"Fostering Daejeon as a Science Capital Like Boston Bio-Cluster"
Accelerating Development of Daedeok 2nd Research Complex
Promoting Public Institution Restructuring, Fusion Research, and Attracting World-Class Scholars

A Korean-style stipend system that provides up to 1.1 million KRW per month in living scholarships to science and engineering graduate students participating in national research and development projects will be introduced next year. The establishment of the second-phase research complex to upgrade Daejeon as the science capital will also be actively pursued, encouraging collaboration among government-funded research institutes in the field of science and technology for R&D.

President Yoon Suk-yeol is speaking at the 12th "Public Livelihood Discussion" held under the theme "Daejeon, the Science Capital Innovating the Republic of Korea" on the 16th at ICC Hotel in Yuseong-gu, Daejeon.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

On the 16th, President Yoon Suk-yeol attended a public discussion forum held at the Daejeon ICC Hotel under the theme "Daejeon, the Science Capital Innovating the Republic of Korea," where he discussed these matters with young scientists and gathered their opinions.

In his opening remarks, President Yoon emphasized, "The most certain way to enhance the nation's science and technology competitiveness is to nurture future talents," and promised, "We will ensure that science and engineering students can focus on their studies and research without worrying about tuition or living expenses."

Regarding the establishment of the second-phase research complex, he stated, "We will swiftly develop the Daejeon 2nd Daedeok Research Complex and, together with the first complex, transform it into an advanced cluster like the Boston Bio Cluster in the United States."

The Korean-style stipend introduced by the government is a system that provides a fixed amount of financial support monthly to science and engineering graduate student researchers so they can devote themselves to their studies and research. It is already implemented in major advanced countries in science and technology such as the United States, the United Kingdom, and Germany. The government plans to guarantee 800,000 KRW per month for master's students and 1.1 million KRW for doctoral students participating in national R&D projects, based on KAIST standards. Additional payments may be made depending on the research institute's circumstances. The Korean-style stipend will be gradually implemented from next year, reflecting students' opinions raised at the public discussion forum.

Through the establishment of the Presidential Science Scholarship for science and engineering graduate students, a full-cycle science scholarship support system will be established, covering undergraduate to master's and doctoral programs. The Ministry of Science and ICT will create the Graduate Presidential Science Scholarship to support about 120 outstanding graduate students. The Ministry of Education will support over 1,400 new creative and challenging research projects for young scientists, including master's, doctoral, and postdoctoral researchers, and significantly expand domestic and international fellowship opportunities. Support for laboratory establishment to help early-stage research settlement will also be strengthened. Since this year is the first year of introducing the Graduate Presidential Science Scholarship, the government plans to continuously monitor field feedback and project operations to improve the system.

The research methods of science and technology government-funded research institutes, recently deregulated from public institutions, will also be significantly revised. This is to encourage global leading R&D that contributes to Korea's economic development through collaboration among research institutes in the era of convergence. To this end, the Ministry of Science and ICT has launched a 100 billion KRW-scale "Global Top Strategic Research Group Support Project" to remove barriers between research institutes and promote open collaboration. This project guarantees 100% of personnel expenses for participating researchers.

Additionally, special recruitment will be expanded to enable research institutes to attract world-class scientists. This strategy aims to have leading projects led by individuals rather than individual research institutes. The government plans to establish a future-oriented government-funded research institute system that competes with world-class research institutions by ensuring transparency in institution management after deregulation, eliminating unnecessary rigidity in budgets, and more.

President Yoon said, "We have deregulated a total of 26 government-funded research institutes, including 16 located in Daejeon, from public institution status for the first time in 16 years, freeing them from various regulations unsuitable for research institutions," and urged, "I hope these research institutes will become flexible and dynamic research organizations that attract excellent researchers from around the world."