A professor at Seoul National University's College of Engineering recently urged a master's student to continue on to a doctoral program, only to be turned down flat. The student said they would rather take a job at a major corporation than stay in the lab. "Why would anyone bother with the hard slog of study when two years at Samsung Electronics or SK hynix pays far more than a professor earns?" the professor said with a sigh. "There are cases where we win research grants worth hundreds of millions of won but cannot find students to carry out the work."
Over the past five years, four out of every 10 admissions tracks in Seoul National University's science and engineering graduate programs have drawn fewer applicants than available seats, according to figures released this week. The trend has raised concerns that the foundation for training basic science researchers could weaken as students increasingly favor employment over graduate study.
Of the 909 admissions tracks across the College of Natural Sciences and the College of Engineering from the 2022 academic year through this year, 376, or 41.4%, had competition ratios below one applicant per seat, according to the office of Rep. Jung Sung-kook of the People Power Party on the 15th. For master's programs, 113 of 310 tracks, or 36.5%, fell short. For doctoral programs, 136 of 313, or 43.5%, came up short, while 127 of 286 combined master's-doctoral tracks, or 44.4%, failed to fill. In 79 tracks, not a single applicant applied.
The shortfall was most pronounced in basic science fields, which are seen as having little direct link to employment. In this year's first-round admissions, the College of Natural Sciences' chemistry department drew seven applicants for 10 master's seats, and the earth and environmental sciences department drew five for nine seats. Among doctoral programs, eight of 14 admissions tracks fell short, and three — astronomy, brain and cognitive sciences, and genetic engineering — received no applications at all.
Within the College of Engineering, the divide between majors tracked employment prospects closely. Master's programs in mechanical engineering and in civil and environmental engineering fell short of their quotas, while electrical and computer engineering drew two applicants for every seat. The artificial intelligence track attracted 48 applicants for 11 seats, more than four times the quota.
Doctoral programs, which require years of sustained research, are being passed over even in popular fields. Electrical and computer engineering failed to fill its doctoral seats despite filling its master's seats. "In the past, top students left for medical school, but lately they prefer to start working quickly," a professor in the university's department of physics and astronomy said. "Some students drop out of doctoral programs because they feel deprived when they compare their pay with that of classmates who took jobs."
Hong Yoo-seok, a professor of industrial engineering at Seoul National University, said most students today view a master's degree as the final stage of their education. "Even students committed to scholarship end up going to graduate school abroad — that is the reality," he said. He added that the country needs to expand the supply of quality jobs available to doctoral degree holders and that companies should increase their research and development spending.
Jung said the fact that even Seoul National University cannot fill its science and engineering graduate quotas signals trouble for the training of the country's scientific talent. "Practical measures are needed, including expanded scholarships and better research conditions," he said.