[Scientists Are Disappearing]④A Shaky Regional Research Ecosystem… “Professors Now Take the Initiative”

6 Out of 10 New Graduate Students Choose the Metropolitan Area
Only Institutes of Science and Technology Thriving in the Regions
“In the Past, Professors Selected Students… Now They Have to Recruit Them Themselves”

Editor’s NoteThe declare that scientists are disappearing could sound exaggerated. After all, the variety of graduate college students in science and engineering and the funding in analysis and growth (R&D) are, statistically, being maintained. However, the actuality in the discipline tells a really completely different story: unfilled graduate spots, extended postdoctoral researcher (postdoc) intervals, and analysis labs in regional universities that stay silent. Through this collection, The Asia Business Daily explores the query, “Why are scientists disappearing?” We have sought options for a way coverage and the analysis discipline should change to create a Korea the place scientists can stay and proceed their work for the long run.

In analysis labs at regional universities, professors now hunt down college students as an alternative of ready for them to come back. In the previous, college students would knock on the doorways of labs, and professors would choose the proper expertise for his or her analysis subjects. Today, nonetheless, even data classes hardly ever entice candidates, and it has grow to be routine for even those that seek the advice of with professors to in the end select graduate colleges in the Seoul metropolitan space or jobs at main companies.

The downside goes past merely a decline in scholar numbers; it’s the “disruption of research continuity” that’s much more severe. As proficient college students who full undergraduate research in the areas transfer to the Seoul metropolitan space or abroad, issues are rising that regional analysis labs are shedding their operate as incubators for coaching future scientists.

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The Optical Illusion of Statistics: The Real Crisis Lies in the Concentration of Increases

On the floor, the focus of science and engineering graduate college students in the Seoul metropolitan space could not appear extreme. As of 2025, 47.4% of graduate college students in science and engineering are in the metropolitan space, which is definitely barely decrease than the area’s share of the whole nationwide inhabitants (about 50.6%). However, the path of change reveals the seriousness of the downside.

Of the 14,242 further college students enrolled on the whole graduate colleges in the pure sciences and engineering fields between 2021 and 2025, a staggering 56.8% (8,086 college students) had been added at universities in the metropolitan space. This implies that the inflow of recent college students is disproportionately concentrated in the metropolitan space, exceeding its demographic share.

Even inside the so-called “non-metropolitan” areas, the scenario varies dramatically. The Institutes of Science and Technology situated in Gwangju, Daegu, and Ulsan (GIST, DGIST, UNIST) are statistically categorised as non-metropolitan, however by way of analysis atmosphere and scholar recruitment, they maintain a standing similar to main universities in the metropolitan space. Excluding these, it’s the conventional regional nationwide and personal college analysis labs in the non-metropolitan areas which are in danger.

The Jeju area, with solely 512 enrolled graduate college students, additionally has a fully small quantity. This displays the small scale of complete universities in the space. Ironically, the small pattern measurement implies that the system is much more susceptible to modifications in a specific lab or division. There is concern that the departure of only one or two key personnel might trigger the complete regional analysis base to break down.

“Now Professors Seek Out Students”

Requesting anonymity as a result of issues about its influence on scholar recruitment, a professor at a nationwide college engineering school in the Chungcheong area stated, “Even when we hold information sessions, student responses are completely different from before,” including, “The prevailing attitude is to ask first how stably they can land a job at a major corporation in the metropolitan area after graduation, rather than being interested in the research itself.”

Pilho Lee, professor of chemistry at Kangwon National University, acknowledged, “The most acute problem regional university research labs are experiencing is not just the decrease in student numbers, but the concentration of top students in graduate schools and Institutes of Science and Technology (IST) in the metropolitan area,” including, “In reality, many departments in regional universities are falling short of their graduate admissions quotas, and the burden of securing research personnel is only increasing.”

He went on to say, “In the past, regional universities could naturally secure a certain level of students, but recently, students have shown a very strong tendency to prioritize universities and large research-oriented institutions in the metropolitan area from the very beginning of their academic careers.” He added, “With the recent rise in reliance on postdoctoral researchers and foreign researchers, there is growing concern that the very foundations for research continuity and long-term research are weakening.”

A hall view of a science and engineering analysis constructing at a regional college. In the science and expertise sector, the declining school-age inhabitants and focus in the metropolitan space overlap, inflicting rising issues about difficulties in securing graduate college students and analysis manpower shortages centered round analysis labs at some regional universities. The picture just isn’t straight associated to the article content material. Photo by Kim Jonghwa

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While the graduate college enrollment fee figures themselves could not appear to indicate a serious discrepancy statistically, the actuality felt in the discipline has reached a important level. In regional college analysis labs with a weak recruitment base, the lack of only one or two graduate college students can straight result in the closure of the lab.

When Regional Research Labs Falter, Industries and National Balance Falter Too

Failure to recruit sufficient researchers results in a severing of ties with native industries. Fields similar to marine, fisheries, geology, and power, the place analysis is carefully linked to the area, are typical examples. If regional analysis labs collapse, the technological capabilities and expertise pipelines that assist the area’s specialised industries additionally disappear.

Junhwan Kim, professor of Fisheries Life Medicine at Jeju National University, stated, “The most critical problem is the gap in living conditions between the metropolitan area and the regions.” He identified, “Researchers must have confidence that they can conduct world-class research even in the provinces, but in reality, there are vast differences in research funding, infrastructure, and living environment compared to the metropolitan area.” He notably emphasised, “The gap in research capabilities leads to the outflow of talent, which in turn triggers a ‘domino effect’ that results in the disappearance of local regions.”

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