"STEM Research Life Incentive Fully Funded... Innovation Plan for 4 Major Science and Technology Institutes to Be Announced Within the Year"

Lee Chang-yoon, 1st Vice Minister of Science and Technology, Reveals at Press Briefing

The funding for the 'STEM Graduate School Research Living Allowance' (Korean-style Stipend), which will be introduced starting next year, will be fully provided by the national budget. As the 2025 university entrance application period has begun, the government is starting to assess how many students on leave are applying to medical schools, and reform plans for the four major science and technology institutes will also be prepared within this year.

Lee Chang-yoon, 1st Vice Minister of the Ministry of Science and ICT [Image source=Yonhap News]

On the 10th, Lee Chang-yoon, the 1st Vice Minister of the Ministry of Science and ICT, announced this during a meeting with reporters from the Ministry of Science and ICT at the National Science and Technology Advisory Council in Jongno-gu, Seoul. Vice Minister Lee stated, "There are concerns that taking part of the labor costs secured through research projects at research sites as funding for the stipend is unfair, and that part seems reasonable."

The STEM Graduate School Research Living Allowance provides 800,000 KRW per month for master's students and 1,100,000 KRW for doctoral students. It has already been exempted from preliminary feasibility studies and included in next year's government budget.

However, due to strong opposition from the research community regarding the initial plan to transfer some of the unused student labor costs accumulated by principal investigators to university research fund accounts, it has been decided that the program will be entirely operated with national finances.

The Ministry of Science and ICT and the Ministry of Education have jointly prepared measures to revitalize STEM fields, which will be announced by the end of this month or early next month. Vice Minister Lee said, "We need to show a national vision for STEM."

However, the possibility of talent drain from STEM fields due to the significant increase in medical school quotas remains a concern. Vice Minister Lee also said, "Although the number of students on leave in the first half of the year is not significantly different from the previous year, we need to look at the statistics as of October 1, when the number of STEM university students on leave for the second semester is available."

Vice Minister Lee also previewed that the innovation plan for the four major science and technology institutes, which were released from public institution status last year, will be disclosed within this year after the STEM revitalization measures are announced. He explained, "It will include the roles of the four major science and technology institutes that can differentiate them from comprehensive universities, collaboration among the science and technology institutes, and cooperation with general universities."