Key Summary
- South Korea will allow professors at foreign universities to hold concurrent positions at domestic universities without leaving their current posts.
- The policy applies to advanced industrial fields such as artificial intelligence and big data, as well as specialized fields designated by individual universities.
- The revised enforcement decree will take effect on the 20th.
Main Story
Foreign university professors will soon be able to take concurrent teaching positions at South Korean universities while remaining employed at their home institutions. The Ministry of Education said on the 10th that the Cabinet had reviewed and approved a partial revision to the Enforcement Decree of the Educational Officials Act.
The change follows a legal amendment in May that opened the door for foreign university faculty members to serve at Korean universities. The latest decree sets out the fields, procedures, and standards for granting such approval.
Under the revised rules, concurrent appointments will be permitted in advanced industrial areas including artificial intelligence and big data, as well as in specialized fields that each university defines for itself. Permission will be granted by the university president after review by the university personnel committee.
The committee will examine whether the concurrent role is necessary, whether confidentiality obligations can be maintained, how research achievements will be managed, and whether the arrangement would interfere with student education, guidance, or academic research.
The ministry said the revision is intended to help attract internationally recognized scholars to Korean universities more actively. It noted that under the previous system, faculty members at universities were generally barred from holding concurrent positions, meaning foreign professors who wanted to teach in Korea often had to resign from their original institutions. Officials said that created practical obstacles to hiring overseas scholars as full-time faculty in Korea.
With the new rules, the ministry expects foreign professors to participate in education and research at Korean universities while keeping their existing appointments, and it also expects greater international joint research and academic exchange.
Education Minister Choi Gyo-jin said he hopes the change will help expand appointments of outstanding overseas scholars, improve the quality of education and research, and increase exchanges between domestic and foreign universities.
Background
The source states that Korea’s current system generally prohibits university faculty from holding concurrent jobs. It also says the legal basis for allowing foreign university professors to serve at Korean universities was amended in May before the enforcement decree was revised.
Items Requiring Further Verification
- The article attributes expectations to the Ministry of Education about increased joint research, broader educational exchange, and improved quality of education and research; these are forward-looking claims, not confirmed outcomes.
- The statement that each university may designate its own specialized fields would require confirmation from individual university rules and implementation details.