Lecturers at Korean Universities Just Scrape By

Part-time lecturers in Korea belong to the low-income sector and their welfare status is worrisome, lawmakers recently said, citing data provided during October’s National Assembly inspection hearings.
At a session in October, Uri Party lawmakers Yoo Gi-hong and Choi Jae-seong said that the average part-time teacher can be summed up as a married person in his or her 40s, receiving no more than 30,000 Won ($26) per hour.

The two legislators said they received data about 60,000 part-time lecturers from 238 universities, including 122 four-year institutions, to study the wages and welfare benefits of part-time lecturers over the past five years.

“Part-time lecturers ask for four main things: guarantees of status; increases in wages; applications of the four major insurance policies, and expansions of welfare facilities and benefits,” Mr. Yoo said. “We have to come up with a comprehensive plan for these part-time lecturers, who are teaching our next generation of academics.”

A 43-year-old part-time lecturer, identified only as Mr. Kim, said he has been teaching at colleges for 11 years.

“It’s hard to raise a daughter on the income I make” said Mr. Kim, a Ph.D. in humanities. He teaches four courses at two colleges, for an average of 10 hours per week. He earns 1.3 million Won per month ($1,186).

“After transport costs, my monthly earnings barely reach 1 million Won ($860),” he said. “During school vacation, I write articles for magazines or tutor to make ends meet.”

Yun Byeong-tae, 43, secretary general of the Korea Irregular Professors’ Union, said that part-time lecturers teach half the courses at universities, but their salaries only account for 10 percent of full-time professors’.