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It has come to light that 14 people who successfully went through the hiring process for professor positions at Seoul National University have voluntarily relinquished their roles over the past three years and eight months. According to the “Annual Status of Newly Hired Professor Appointment Withdrawals” submitted by Seoul National University to the office of People Power Party Representative Seo Ji-young, 14 candidates for new professor positions between 2022 and this year have withdrawn their offers. Among them, nine were from science and engineering disciplines, including the College of Natural Sciences, the College of Engineering, and the Graduate School of Data Science.

Within the College of Engineering, two representatives each from the Department of Industrial Engineering and the Department of Computer Science and Engineering left. Additionally, the Department of Economics from the College of Social Sciences also withdrew. From the College of Social Sciences, one person from the Department of Social Welfare, along with one each from the Department of Physics and Astronomy, the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, the Department of Chemistry in the College of Natural Sciences, and the Department of Consumer Science in the College of Living Sciences also departed.

It was verified that one professor from the Law Department within the Law School and another from the Data Science Department in the Graduate School of Data Science also stepped down from their positions.

Some critics argue that the trend of scholars stepping down from professor positions at Seoul National University is a result of the institution’s poor treatment of its faculty. As of 2021, the average yearly salary for assistant professors at Seoul National University was 88.48 million South Korean won. The Seoul National University Faculty Council noted, “The average annual salary of full professors at Seoul National University is 73% compared to the top five universities,” and “associate and assistant professors are at 89% and 93%, respectively.”

As a reaction, Seoul National University implemented a performance-linked salary system last month to address the issue of faculty leaving. The initiative categorizes tenured professors (around 1,400, including full professors and certain associate professors) into four levels depending on their research and teaching effectiveness, offering pay tied to performance. It has been reported that Seoul National University also intends to raise the base salary of tenured professors by almost 3 million Korean won each year.