Underperforming professors face wage freeze

By Lee Hyo-sik

Staff reporter

Professors at state-funded universities will be subject to a strict performance evaluation from 2015, with the bottom 10 percent facing a wage freeze.

But the top 20 percent will receive up to two times the average performance-based salary as a bonus, with those who produce ground-breaking research results receiving as much as four times the average performance pay.

The Ministry of Education, Science and Technology unveiled Monday these and other guidelines on the envisioned performance-based payment system for faculty members and other personnel at 41 national universities across the country.

The ministry plans to put the measures into practice from July. First, nearly 150 new professors to be hired in the second half of the year will receive salaries based on performance.

The system will be expanded to cover all teaching staff and other personnel at state-run universities, totaling 16,000, in 2015.

Under the planned performance-based salary system, there are four categories; S (20 percent), A (30 percent), B (40 percent) and C (10 percent).

There will be two types of payments - the base salary and the performance-related payment - for all university staff. The average performance wage will be calculated by dividing the total payment by the number of employees.

Those rated with an S will receive 1.5 to two times the average performance-related pay as a bonus. Professors producing extraordinary research achievements will be given an "SS" rating, receiving up to four times the average performance payment.

Those with A will receive a slightly above average performance-based bonus, with workers with a B grade getting slightly below the average. Workers with a C will not be entitled to any performance-based bonus.

A ministry official said it will make every effort to implement the envisioned payment system for faculty members and other employees at national universities without major confusion.