By Bahk Eun-ji
Seoul National University (SNU) is under fire for sloppy management for hiring world-renowned scholars under loose contract terms.
The latest example is Thomas Sargent, 70, a Nobel economics laureate whom the state university hired in September 2012 as a full-time faculty member. Prof. Sargent didn't finish a two-year contract and left the school last September.
The problem was SNU had no provision in the contract for a failure by the professor to keep his end of the deal. Prof. Sargent was to make 1.5 billion won from the annual contract over two years.
The school actually paid around 800 million won as annual research funding.
SNU officials couldn't be reached for comment.
A copy of the contract with Prof. Sargent has been submitted to Rep. Yoo Ki-hong of the main opposition Democratic Party.
"There is no provision for claiming damages against the professor on the contract," Rep. Yoo said in a press release.
"The contract period is two years, but he was only provided with one-year's salary and research funds under the terms of the contract. We don't see any problem in the contract, as there was no pecuniary loss," the school official was quoted by Hankook Ilbo, a vernacular newspaper.
Also under contract with SNU are Eefim Zelmanov, a Russian mathematician who won the Fields Medal in 1994, and Aaron Ciechanover, who won the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 2004.
"The government and the school have to re-arrange the regulations so that the support fund isn't wasted. If there is no measure for pushing them to show research results, similar problems will be repeated," Rep. Yoo said.
The school receives 3 billion won in state funding for hiring these renowned scholars.
Seoul National University (SNU) is under fire for sloppy management for hiring world-renowned scholars under loose contract terms.
The latest example is Thomas Sargent, 70, a Nobel economics laureate whom the state university hired in September 2012 as a full-time faculty member. Prof. Sargent didn't finish a two-year contract and left the school last September.
The problem was SNU had no provision in the contract for a failure by the professor to keep his end of the deal. Prof. Sargent was to make 1.5 billion won from the annual contract over two years.
The school actually paid around 800 million won as annual research funding.
SNU officials couldn't be reached for comment.
A copy of the contract with Prof. Sargent has been submitted to Rep. Yoo Ki-hong of the main opposition Democratic Party.
"There is no provision for claiming damages against the professor on the contract," Rep. Yoo said in a press release.
"The contract period is two years, but he was only provided with one-year's salary and research funds under the terms of the contract. We don't see any problem in the contract, as there was no pecuniary loss," the school official was quoted by Hankook Ilbo, a vernacular newspaper.
Also under contract with SNU are Eefim Zelmanov, a Russian mathematician who won the Fields Medal in 1994, and Aaron Ciechanover, who won the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 2004.
"The government and the school have to re-arrange the regulations so that the support fund isn't wasted. If there is no measure for pushing them to show research results, similar problems will be repeated," Rep. Yoo said.
The school receives 3 billion won in state funding for hiring these renowned scholars.
![[RAS KOREA] Preserving memories at Cheongju City Archives](https://img.koreatimes.co.kr/upload/thumbnailV2/53ecc69c116c49af9ba0005288526ab5.jpg/dims/resize/178/optimize)
![[INTERVIEW] Long-awaited extension of Korean Pavilion at Venice Biennale to be pushed forward](https://img.koreatimes.co.kr/upload/thumbnailV2/d8d5090875824ce08a90bb2c5a8f8c05.jpg/dims/resize/178/optimize)
