4 out of 10 Post-doctoral Researchers Fail to Find a Job
The Science & Technology Policy Institute said in its recent report that a total of 13,170 South Koreans obtained their doctorates in 2018 and approximately 3,000 out of them opted for a postdoctoral career, including about 2,300 science and engineering doctors.
According to the report, 38.5 percent of the 13,170 persons stayed under academic advisors at their degree acquisition due to insufficient job openings. Specifically, the ratio is 54.5 percent, 46.7 percent and 41.3 percent for doctors of medicine and pharmacy, natural science and engineering, respectively. On the other hand, the ratio stands at 12.5 percent and 11.1 percent for those of social science and humanities, respectively. About two years after the acquisition, approximately 25 percent of the persons stayed under academic advisors.
In 2018, the average annual salary of those working for large corporations in South Korea was 60.12 million won and about 90 percent of postdoctoral students received less than that amount.
Under the circumstances, the Ministry of Science and ICT launched the KIURI Project in order to support doctoral and postdoctoral researchers by investing 37.5 billion won for three years to come. The project is scheduled to be conducted at Seoul National, Sungkyunkwan and Yonsei Universities and Pohang University of Science & Technology. They will organize research groups to train experts in the fields of AI-based healthcare, precision medicine, energy technology, etc.