South Korea ramps up science talent drive but retention missing

Academics have welcomed new measures introduced by the South Korean government to attract international researchers, but say that retention must also be key if the country is to compete with neighbouring scientific giants.

The Ministry of Science and ICT (Mist) has announced a new strategy for developing Korea’s science and technology talent pipeline – the latest in a raft of policies aimed at boosting the country’s standing on the global stage, amid fears that it is falling behind.

“The demand for science and technology professionals is expected to increase explosively in the future,” Mist said in a statement. “However, due to the declining school-age population and the decline in social awareness of science and engineering fields due to the low birth rate, our country urgently needs to make national efforts to secure science and technology talents in terms of quantity and quality.”

The government will introduce new benefits for international scientists, including making it easier for their spouses to work in the country and relaxing income standards for those bringing children.

It also committed to providing more support services to those relocating to South Korea to help ensure “long-term settlement”.

In addition, the Ministry of Justice has introduced a new “top-tier visa” for “high-level talent” in fields including artificial intelligence, robotics, quantum technology and aerospace, aimed at making it simpler for professionals in those fields to settle in the country, although details of the scheme were yet to be announced.

Martin Steinegger, an associate professor of bioinformatics at Seoul National University, welcomed the new policies but argued that more needed to be done to retain foreign scientists.

“Many research institutes in Korea struggle with retention, particularly in faculty positions,” he said. “One of the main challenges is the expectation that faculty members be fluent in Korean, which can put non-Korean speakers at a significant disadvantage.”

“The high-level talent race between countries is intensifying,” agreed Rushan Ziatdinov, an industrial engineering professor at Keimyung University. “High-level talents are more mobile than ordinary people, and there is a need to develop highly effective strategies for talent retention and long-term career development so that they can’t be easily lured to other countries.”

Other countries in the region are also looking at enticing foreign scientists by easing immigration rules, with China reportedly considering a “green-card” style system.

If it is to compete, South Korea must be “more competitive with salaries”, said Dr Steinegger. “Countries like China are aggressively attracting foreign talent with competitive compensation, start-up opportunities and active recruitment efforts, while Korea has yet to match these strategies,” he said.

Seoul has also unveiled new policies to support domestic female scientists and researchers, in what Jeehye Kweon, a senior project manager at the Korea Foundation for Women in Science, Engineering and Technology, described as an effort to “qualitatively grow and quantitatively expand female science and technology personnel in Korea”.

New targets have been set for 20 per cent of leadership positions at public research institutions to be filled by women. Currently, this figure is about 10 per cent, according to the government.

Female employees at research institutes will also be able to request reduced working hours for three years after having children, up from the current one year.

This will help to prevent the “leakage” of women from science careers, said Dr Kweon.

helen.packer@timeshighereducation.com