On May 18, KAIST established a “Charter of Respect and Loyalty between Professors and Students” that states measures to improve the working conditions of graduate students and build trust between professors and students.
KAIST President Sung-Chul Shin and HyeJeong Han, President of the KAIST Graduate Student Association (GSA), signed the charter as representatives of professors and students. Graduate students have a unique status as both students receiving education and employees performing lab research. The GSA explained that “however, in reality, this unique status places them in a blind spot where they are not being fully entitled to their rights neither as employees nor students.” This contributed to the noticeable trend of prospective college students avoiding natural science and engineering fields. KAIST announced that this charter was established in hopes to reverse that concerning trend and lay the groundwork for further advancement of science and technology.
The charter is a set of promises made between professors and students to uphold values of respect and loyalty and to establish trust in each other. Professors should treat each student not only as someone they should teach thoroughly but also as a human being who should be respected. The student should also respect the professor and diligently perform educational and research duties. The charter includes provisions stating that professors should provide minimum grants for encouragement of research and education to the students transparently and reasonably. Professors must guarantee vacation leave for graduate students and define a fixed number of hours that students have to participate in research projects. Graduation and degree requirements should be clearly defined and students should devote themselves to education and research. Students should carry out responsibilities such as teaching assistants and research projects, and adhere to research ethics and safety measures.
KAIST has become the first university in Korea to specifically guarantee full-time graduate students’ vacations and the first to officially proclaim a promise between the school and the student council for betterment of conditions for graduate students.