PBS System Abolished After 30 Years to Enable Government-Funded Institutes to Focus on Long-Term Research

Government-Funded Research Institutes to Move Away from Commissioned Research Structure
Humanities and Social Sciences Institutes to Fully Abolish PBS from 2026
Science and Technology Institutes to Transition Gradually Over Five Years

Jo Seungrae, spokesperson for the National Planning Committee, is giving a briefing on current issues at the Changseongdong Annex of Seoul City Hall in Jongno-gu, Seoul on the 23rd. 2025.6.23 Photo by Jo Yongjun

The National Policy Planning Committee, which is outlining the roadmap for the Lee Jaemyung administration, announced on the 29th that it will completely abolish the 'PBS system (Project-Based System)' that has been maintained by government-funded research institutes for the past 30 years. PBS is a system introduced in 1996 to manage research projects at research institutes based on performance. Under this system, individual researchers or departments secure budgets by winning external projects and are evaluated on their performance.

However, contrary to its intended purpose, this system has been continuously criticized for causing research institutes to focus on short-term commissioned projects rather than their own in-house research, and for undermining the quality and independence of research due to excessive competition. Accordingly, the government has decided to abolish the PBS system and transition to a basic research-oriented system based on government subsidies.

According to a briefing by Cho Seungrae, spokesperson of the National Policy Planning Committee, the 24 government-funded research institutes under the National Research Council for Economics, Humanities and Social Sciences will completely abolish PBS and switch to government subsidies starting in 2026. The 23 research institutes under the National Research Council of Science and Technology, which is under the Ministry of Science and ICT, will gradually abolish PBS over the next five years, taking into account the long-term nature and specificity of their projects. To this end, starting next year, approximately 500 billion won per year, which was previously used for commissioned projects, will be allocated as government subsidies.

The government plans to use this reform to strengthen the mid- to long-term research capabilities of government-funded research institutes and to create an environment where researchers can stably carry out basic research projects. In particular, for science and technology research institutes, the government will also promote reforms such as restructuring the system for allocating government subsidies, introducing an inter-ministerial evaluation and performance management system, and revising the researcher compensation system.

Spokesperson Cho stated, "The abolition of the PBS system is an issue that researchers have long demanded in the field," and added, "This measure will strengthen the independence and unique functions of each research institute and serve as an opportunity for them to make a substantial contribution to policy-making."