SNU report proposes faculty change
Published: 14 Oct. 2009, 05:41
A major shake-up of the professorial system looks likely at Korea’s top institution of higher education if a report submitted by a university’s management group is accepted.
The Senate committee at Seoul National University has proposed that professors should be integrated within a faculty system rather than a departmental one after the school is incorporated. A bill for the incorporation of the university is currently pending in the National Assembly.
The report, which has been submitted to the university’s ruling council, also suggests alternatives for promotion schemes and performance evaluation.
The report said that the titles of professors should be changed to reflect the faculty under which they will serve rather than the department to which they currently belong.
“Since a professor’s job entails teaching and conducting research at the same time, it is not appropriate to categorize them under departments,” said Ahn Yoon-ok, vice chairman of the Senate and a professor at SNU’s medical school. “I believe professors can teach and research more freely in a faculty.
The report also advised abolishing the current promotion system. Instead of academic staff rising up from assistant to associate and eventually full professor, the report proposed basing promotions on job evaluations every five years, after three years of service.
“It is meaningless to divide the rank since there is not much difference between the positions,” Ahn said. “We are intent to remove the ranking system because professors will no longer be public servants after the school is incorporated.”
In addition, the report suggests that only professors who have worked at the university for eight or more years should be considered for tenure. And staff who fail to get tenure within 13 years of service after being reappointed two times would lose their jobs.
An additional change would be requiring tenured professors to be evaluated regularly. “Senate members have been working on the report for 14 months. However, we are not in a position to officially promote the proposals,” said an official at SNU who declined to be named.
By Lim Mi-jin, Lee Min-yong [[email protected]]
The Senate committee at Seoul National University has proposed that professors should be integrated within a faculty system rather than a departmental one after the school is incorporated. A bill for the incorporation of the university is currently pending in the National Assembly.
The report, which has been submitted to the university’s ruling council, also suggests alternatives for promotion schemes and performance evaluation.
The report said that the titles of professors should be changed to reflect the faculty under which they will serve rather than the department to which they currently belong.
“Since a professor’s job entails teaching and conducting research at the same time, it is not appropriate to categorize them under departments,” said Ahn Yoon-ok, vice chairman of the Senate and a professor at SNU’s medical school. “I believe professors can teach and research more freely in a faculty.
The report also advised abolishing the current promotion system. Instead of academic staff rising up from assistant to associate and eventually full professor, the report proposed basing promotions on job evaluations every five years, after three years of service.
“It is meaningless to divide the rank since there is not much difference between the positions,” Ahn said. “We are intent to remove the ranking system because professors will no longer be public servants after the school is incorporated.”
In addition, the report suggests that only professors who have worked at the university for eight or more years should be considered for tenure. And staff who fail to get tenure within 13 years of service after being reappointed two times would lose their jobs.
An additional change would be requiring tenured professors to be evaluated regularly. “Senate members have been working on the report for 14 months. However, we are not in a position to officially promote the proposals,” said an official at SNU who declined to be named.
By Lim Mi-jin, Lee Min-yong [[email protected]]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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