12% Increase of Professors’ Salary Last Year, but Part-Time Lecturers’ Were Decreased

Unbalanced wages between professors and part-time lecturers became worse last year as full- time professors’ salaries increased significantly while part-time lecturers’ wages decreased.

Also, the number of students per full-time professor increased as well as the ratio of courses that part-time lecturers teach.

According to the `2001 College Education Advancement Index` which the Korean Council for University Education (KCUE) announced on the 13th, full-time professors’ average monthly wage (before taxation) last April was 4,914,000 won, which is 12.2 percent higher than the previous year’s 4,379,000 won. Also, deputy professors, assistant professors, and full-time lecturers had similar increases in their salaries.

However, part- time lecturers suffered unimproved treatment as their hourly payment decreased from the previous year’s 23,210 won to average 22,870 won.

The number of students per full-time professor decreased from 30.25 in 2000, to 30.18, but the number of students per professor slightly increased to 28.18 compared to the previous year (28.16).

However, the class ratio that foreign lecturers take charge of was 38.44 percent, which is 1.24 percent points higher than the previous year. Especially, the ones in charge of general education courses pointed to the 53.17 percent ratio.

Payment for research benefits per professor also increased to 19,979,000 won in 2000, which is 7.9 percent (1,461,000 won) higher than the previous year.

The number of articles per professor remained at an average of 2.31 articles.

Meanwhile, the ratio of students benefiting from scholarships greatly increased to 56.87 percent compared to 1999 (52.90%), but the amount of scholarship per student decreased from 847,000 won to 769,000 won. Universities seem to have raised the number of students for scholarship, but decreased the amount.

inchul@donga.com