Measures to Revitalize STEM Fields
Park Sang-wook, Senior Science Official, Expresses Strong Will... "Preliminary Feasibility Study Exemption Confirmed"
Considering Measures to Cover Student Labor Cost Shortfalls Compared to Subsidy Standards
On the 23rd, the Ministry of Science and ICT held a graduate student meeting at Seoul National University to implement the 'Korean-style Stipend' system, which provides science and engineering graduate students with a monthly research living allowance of 800,000 to 1,100,000 KRW, and listened to opinions from the field.
Park Sang-wook, Senior Secretary for Science and Technology at the Presidential Office, is speaking at the Korean-style Staripend Graduate Student Meeting held at Seoul National University on the 23rd. Photo by Baek Jong-min
At the event, Park Sang-wook, Chief of Science and Technology at the Presidential Office, personally attended and explained the Presidential Office's position on providing stable support to science and engineering graduate students. From the Ministry of Science and ICT, Hwang Pan-sik, Director of the Research and Development Policy Office, and Hong Soon-jung, Director of the Future Talent Policy Bureau, attended. At Seoul National University, about 40 people including science and engineering graduate and undergraduate students, professors, and university officials from the Industry-Academic Cooperation Foundation participated.
The science and engineering graduate student research living allowance is being promoted following the 12th Public Discussion on Livelihoods, attended by President Yoon Seok-yeol. Its purpose is to establish an economic safety net and create an environment conducive to research through support for science and engineering graduate students. The policy goal is to share the responsibility of securing and paying student labor costs, which had previously been solely imposed on individual principal investigators, between the government and universities.
A plan to provide government financial support to universities guaranteeing a basic monthly amount of 800,000 KRW for master's students and 1,100,000 KRW for doctoral students in science and engineering graduate programs is considered likely.
Chief Park specifically mentioned, "The Cabinet meeting passed a proposal exempting the preliminary feasibility study for the research and development living allowance system."
The government plans to guarantee a basic amount of student labor costs for science and engineering graduate students engaged in research activities while inducing an overall increase in the level of student labor cost payments through management of payment status by university. Through this, it is expected that not only students receiving less than the basic amount but also those receiving more will experience improved treatment.
At this meeting, detailed discussions were held on the specific support directions of the project, such as eligibility and operational status management measures, to enhance the project's suitability to the research field and secure operational stability.
After answering students' and professors' questions in detail, Chief Park Sang-wook asked, "Should we implement the Stipend or not?" and elicited a response of "We should."
Hwang Pan-sik, Director of the Research and Development Policy Office, stated, “To secure the next generation of global researchers, continuous and stable national-level support for science and engineering talents is very important. We will carefully consider and reflect field opinions when establishing the science and engineering graduate student research living allowance project plan.”
The Ministry of Science and ICT plans to announce the project implementation plan within the year, prepared through on-site communication with various stakeholders including graduate students, professors, university officials, and experts.
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
