Poor research environment, high cost of childhood education cited
South Korean students that earned doctorate degrees in the United States in the areas of science or technology are reluctant to return home, according to a survey. The survey of 454 South Koreans who earned doctorate degrees in those fields since 2001, taken by Jin Mi-seok, a senior researcher at the Korea Research Institute for Vocational Education and Training, also showed that some that received their doctorates in the U.S. but came back to Korea now wish to return to the U.S. The amount of South Korean Ph.D. recipients in technology- and science-based fields that said they have stayed in the U.S. hovered between 50 percent in 1984 and 52.8 percent in 1997. However, the number jumped to 62.3 percent in 1998 in the wake of the Asian financial crisis and peaked at 82.2 percent in 2002. The ratio fell to 75.4 percent in 2003 and 73.9 percent in 2004. The number of Korean recipients of U.S. doctorates in the sciences that returned to South Korea was estimated at 48.7 percent in 2002. This amount stands in contrast with the corresponding figure of 69.5 percent registered in 1995. In addition, 37.7 percent of U.S. scientific doctorate earners that returned home to Korea answered they want to leave Korea again if given the chance. These respondents said a poor research environment and huge educational costs for children as the main reasons to want to leave South Korea again.Of the Koreans that earned U.S. science doctorates and then returned home, 36 percent were hired at universities, 37 percent went to work at private companies, and 27 percent found jobs at government-funded research centers. Of them, 61.7 percent answered that their work is below their academic level. Of the science and technology doctorate degree holders who stayed in the U.S., 68.3 percent were working at higher education institutes as of 2004 and 23.2 percent were working at private companies. No information was given on the level of work being done in the U.S. “To reduce a ‘brain drain,’ various countermeasures, including [an invigorated] research environment and financial support for children’s education, are necessary,” Jin said. Please direct questions or comments to [englishhani@hani.co.kr]
