In this blog post, we will look at whether scholarships and military exemption are realistic alternatives to solving the phenomenon of avoiding science and engineering.
South Korea is currently experiencing a crisis in the science and engineering fields. South Korean newspapers and broadcasters report that students are avoiding going to science and engineering universities. Universities complain that talented people are leaving the science and engineering fields, and that there is a shortage of talent in the science and engineering fields. Industrial sites are struggling because they cannot find the talent they need. This is called the science and engineering crisis. Some argue that the science and engineering crisis is exaggerated, saying that a sufficient number of students are going on to study science and engineering, that it is relatively easy to find employment, and that some of them belong to the high-income job group. Then why are there discussions about the science and engineering crisis everywhere? This is because the focus of the science and engineering crisis is not simply a lack of numbers, but the outflow of excellent core talent. In fact, it is not just science and engineering that is struggling in the current economic situation. With the exception of medical and law schools, there are few fields where the situation is good. Nevertheless, the science and engineering fields are particularly prominent because the proportion of science and engineering students is high at universities, and the science and engineering fields have a great impact on society and the economy. Before discussing the solution to the science and engineering crisis, let’s look at the background of the crisis along with the economic trends.
As of 2024, the South Korean economy is considered to have escaped the worst. The Korean economy, which experienced the IMF crisis in 1997, made a comeback, but it had to overcome many difficulties. After the IMF crisis, there were many internal and external difficulties, including the credit card crisis (2003), the collapse of the dot-com bubble (1999), and the global financial crisis triggered by the subprime mortgage crisis (2007). The Korean economy, which pursues export-led economic growth, is inevitably sensitive to global economic conditions, and is currently going through a long tunnel with no end in sight due to the difficult global economic situation. S&P and Moody’s have upgraded the credit rating of the Korean economy, saying that it is managing the crisis relatively better than OECD countries amid the European economic crisis, US consumption decline, and concerns about a soft landing of the Chinese economy. However, the suffering of individual citizens is still great. The “healing” books that are sweeping bookstores are proof of this. Companies are shifting to emergency management systems in preparation for the uncertain economic situation next year, and news of staff reductions is heard everywhere. In particular, research personnel from science and engineering, who account for a large proportion, are being targeted for reduction.
When the economy is in recession, the first people to lose their jobs in the industry are R&D personnel, that is, those with a science or engineering background. This job insecurity has been learned throughout society, and the younger generation, who have seen examples of people with science or engineering backgrounds losing their jobs during every economic crisis, have naturally avoided science and engineering. Students with good grades prefer relatively stable jobs such as doctors and lawyers, and flock to related departments. This phenomenon is clearly seen in university admissions, especially at Seoul National University, where the SAT scores of science and engineering applicants are lower than the average for pre-med applicants. Even the top students who go on to study science and engineering often go on to study medicine or law at graduate school or study abroad after graduation. As a result, there are very few outstanding students who remain in science and engineering.
The government, companies, and universities are proposing various measures to solve the science and engineering crisis. First, there is a scholarship system that aims to reduce the burden of tuition fees by providing scholarships to science and engineering students to encourage them to choose other majors. A typical example is the science and engineering scholarships from the Korea Student Aid Foundation, which exempt students with excellent admission grades from paying the full tuition fee if they maintain a certain grade point average. However, despite these scholarship benefits, excellent students are still flocking to the fields of medicine and law. This means that scholarships alone cannot solve the science and engineering crisis.
Next, there are military exemption programs. This is a system that exempts students from military service if they work as a professional researcher at a science and engineering university in Korea or at a related company. The purpose of this system is to encourage male students to study science and engineering and to prevent them from studying abroad. Thanks to this system, more students are pursuing master’s and doctoral degrees without serving in the military, but many still choose to study abroad even though they are obliged to serve in the military.
In addition, an engineering certification program has been proposed. This is a certification program run by the Korea Engineering Education Certification Institute, which was started with the aim of increasing the social value of graduates by granting engineering certification to engineering graduates who meet certain requirements. However, the effectiveness of this program is low. The reason for this is that society and industry do not recognize the value of engineering certification. In addition, various measures have been proposed, including research funding support, improvement of research environment and treatment, deregulation of unnecessary regulations, and systematic management of science and technology personnel.
Although various measures are being implemented, they have not yet solved the fundamental problem of the science and engineering crisis. This is because the measures proposed do not address the core issue of job instability, which is the root of the science and engineering crisis. To solve the science and engineering crisis, it is necessary for talented students to be able to see a successful life in science and engineering and expect a stable future. The reason why students flock to medical and law schools is not because of the tuition fees or exemption from military service, but because of the stable life that is guaranteed after graduation.
The key to the solution lies in controlling the supply of science and engineering talent. Given the excess supply of science and engineering graduates relative to the demand in the Korean industrial sector and the resulting lower wage levels, it is necessary to reduce the supply to raise wages. Doctors and lawyers do not have a set retirement age, and professors have a retirement age of between 60 and 70. However, science and engineering workers in the private sector have a shorter career span. Due to the short cycle of technological change, those with science and engineering backgrounds are more likely to lose their jobs at a young age if they fail to develop themselves. In contrast, doctors and lawyers have longer careers and can continue to engage in economic activities for a long time. For this reason, a system should be put in place to enable science and engineering personnel to earn more during their short period of economic activity, and this requires reducing the number of science and engineering students at universities.
Some critics argue that such supply control is a difficult plan to implement in reality. This is because it requires consistent government policies and support to reduce the number of university students and it is not easy to reduce the number of students when universities themselves rely on tuition fees. In particular, the industry is likely to oppose the reduction of the supply of science and technology personnel, which could lead to increased costs such as rising research and product development costs. However, controlling the supply of science and engineering personnel is necessary to restore the lives of science and technology personnel who have been sacrificed in the process of Korea’s economic development and to establish a sustainable economic development model.
In addition, we can propose a realistic alternative to focus on research funding. We should stop the current practice of distributing research funding and instead provide full support to a small number of research institutes and talented individuals with promising and potential for value creation to promote qualitative development of research. This will enable research personnel to produce continuous results based on a satisfactory standard of living and research environment, and society will recognize the value of life for those engaged in technology research and development.
In short, to resolve the crisis in science and engineering, the quality of life and income level of those from science and engineering must be improved.
