By Do Je-hae
Staff Reporter
Chung-Ang University announced Wednesday a performance-oriented assessment of the 788 members of its full-time faculty, ahead of the school's introduction of an annual salary system based on performance.
Based on research achievements and course evaluations, the teachers have been categorized into four groups - S, A, B, C, with S being awarded to the top performers.
The results showed that 28 professors were placed in group S, according to school officials.
Their names have been posted on the university's official Web site. The rest have been informed of their standing individually.
Part-time teaching staff members were not included in the assessment, as they are not subject to the annual salary system.
Most of the professors in the top two groups were from the science and engineering departments.
There are 175 in group A, taking up 22.2 percent of the entire faculty. Around 536 professors, or 68 percent, were placed in group B and 49 in group C.
The university plans to use the data as a factor in determining raises for full-time faculty. The school plans to freeze wages for teachers placed in the under-performing group C starting next year.
Specific raise percentages per group will be decided during wage negotiations planned for next month, but it is expected that professors in the top two groups will receive generous incentives.
"Since we introduced the assessment system, the number of theses published in international academic journals per professor has seen a 32 percent increase," Han Sang-june, dean of academic affairs at the university, said.
The system is one of the measures taken by the private university to oust the "iron rice bowl" mentality prevalent among Korean scholars. The Chinese term refers to occupations with guaranteed job security, steady income and benefits regardless of one's level of commitment to quality performance.
The faculty assessment, coupled with a restructuring plan to integrate departments for efficiency, is a key policy of the school for raising its competitiveness and standing in global university assessment indexes.
However, some professors are expressing doubt about whether adopting a corporate style evaluation and pay system will work within academia.
"To best protect the rights of the teachers, we need to establish a union of professors that will deal with wage negotiations," a professor representing the school's faculty association said.
The evaluation system was devised in 2008. The criteria of the assessments include research, teaching and volunteer activities.