Korean Job Discussion Forums

[mishlert]

I work at a Koren university, and I can tell you that the Korean professors with tenure all have a PhD, have been published at least 2 times, and so on; the same as getting tenure in the states.
Will I ever get tenure? It would be nice, but I have an M.A. and have yet to be published, and signed a one year contract (re-newable).
Do I make less than the Koreans? Yes, but then I have an M.A., as apposed to a PhD.
Do I like my job? I love it! The pay is above avarage for foreigners teaching in Korea; vacation time is 16 weeks a year, split between summer and winter; I have my own office.
Now, I could go on about why I love it, but the bottom line is that I wanted to work at university knowing the pros and cons that go with it, and decided that the pros outweighed the cons.
Keep in mind, this may not be the same for everyone.

[rudyflyer]

I tend to agree with mishlert. Do I want tenure? Not particularly, I don't plan on spending the rest of my life here. Do I want to be in the "publish or perish" grind? Nope, seen what that does to people in the US. All I do want is a little job security but doesn't everybody want that

Yeah there are things about this job that drive me nuts (brain dead students who figure out how to work an elevator, a BS contract renewal process) but I do have it better than 90% of the hogwon teachers and say 60 % of the univ teachers. I get 4 months off, my own office (which I never use), pretty much free reign over my classes etc. free LAN connection at home

Yeah tenure would be nice but as long as the univ says I'm doing a good job and keeps renewing me, I'll be OK

[Ryst Helmut]

Mishlert,

I am glad to hear that you are happy with your job and surroundings. I must disagree with some points. To PhD, or not PhD is not the question. My friend has a PhD, has been published (how many time, unsure), and yet to be tenured. I have the same contract as those of my Korean counterparts (most of whom are PART time), yet after the 5 year 'waiting' period, I will not get such an advancement.

Ok, so I've not a PhD, but if I were hired to do X, and did X, (just like everyone else) shouldn't I get the same perks regardless? Maybe I don't understand justification... If there were two people had the same contract, completed the same thing, then why aren't they treated equally?

Oh, just a side note...one of our founding fathers of the university told me one night that my degrees in English and education were great, and that my being a 'native' English speaker is a PhD in-and-of itself. We provide a service that no Korean professor, no matter how many PhDs they may hold, can do.

I doubt that even if I completed a PhD in, let's say....TESOL, put my alloted 5 years in, that I'd be given tenure.

Then again, I am ever so frequently wrong.

Shoosh,

Ryst

[Real Reality]

Here is an example of the lifetime appointment process in Korean universities. When one is hired full-time, it is assumed that you can stay there for many years(perhaps until retirement).

A report on Seoul National University's competitiveness as a university, written by a 'blue ribbon panel' of esteemed overseas scholars, is yet another disappointment.

Most prominent in the report is how 100% of newly hired SNU professors are guaranteed to retire there. It is two to three times the number for Harvard (30%) and Stanford (40%), and it is alarming that since its founding, only three full-time lecturers hired by SNU have failed to become full professors. In other words, when the school announces the ratio of teaching talent that has been promoted or dismissed, it is not talking about dismissal at all, but rather how many people had their promotions 'delayed.'

Much of the stagnation at SNU originates in its mysterious system where once you are hired as a full-time lecturer, your place is assured until the age of 65, no matter what your performance looks like. The mere squeaks you sometimes hear in the professor hiring and promotion process, the senior insider relationships you have there filling the void of truly great scholars, a strange sub-culture that sometimes pays more interest to off-campus events than hard core research, an atmosphere where people avoid creative research when there's the slightest risk of failure. These all originate in the job guarantee.

http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200112/200112170451.html

[Gord]

[Real Reality]

According to the '2001 College Education Advancement Index' which the Korean Council for University Education (KCUE) announced on the 13th, full-time professors' average monthly wage (before taxation) last April was 4,914,000 won, which is 12.2 percent higher than the previous year's 4,379,000 won. Also, deputy professors, assistant professors, and full-time lecturers had similar increases in their salaries.

Payment for research benefits per professor also increased to 19,979,000 won in 2000, which is 7.9 percent (1,461,000 won) higher than the previous year.

The number of articles per professor remained at an average of 2.31 articles.

http://english.donga.com/srv/service.php3?biid=2002021400798

Professors Cheat to Maintain SCI Scores

A growing scandal is emerging among professors of science and engineering it was learned Thursday with many of them using others work to maintain their set science citation index.

A professor of engineering said it was common for there to be up to ten co-authors on a paper, most of whom have had nothing to do with it.

A Professor Jeong at "C" University published some 20 international and 30 domestic papers during last year alone, an average of around one a week, while a professor Kang at "D" University aged more than 50, concluded a secret agreement with a newly appointed professor to have his name added to papers in exchange for hiring him as opposed to other candidates. Last year, Professor Han at "E" University who had failed to be promoted managed to do so after his name was appended to his student's paper.

The rush to maintain SCIs is having a bad effect on university research according to Professor Lim Han-jo of Ajou University who said "we should not permit the evaluation on a professor focused on papers for the SCI to become a bottleneck for the development of science."

http://www.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200204/200204251020.html