On September 27, the SNU Diversity Council, an advisory committee for the university president, published its third annual report. The report is part of an effort to promote diversity in SNU, as it provides a comprehensive overview of current events and statistics pertaining to student, researcher and faculty diversity.

The special topic of the 2018 report is that of non-tenure-track faculty and researchers at SNU, especially following recent changes in the Education Act. The number of non-tenure-track staff has doubled since March 2018 as the positions of dispatched and service workers were changed to non-tenure-track positions. At present, the number of non-tenure track research and teaching faculty accounts for 51.6% of the total faculty.

Faculty and Researchers of the SNU community in 2018

Some statistics are indicative of SNU’s progress in evening the gender imbalance, others, show that there is still much more progress to be made. For example, the number of female permanent staff now exceeds half the total, and the percentage of female undergraduate and graduate students are up slightly from last year from 35.8% to 36.3%, and 15.5% to 16% respectively. Addressing SNU’s stark statistical gender inequality is essential in improving the conditions for women on campus.

Gender Ratio at SNU

The Diversity Report will be distributed to all academic and administrative offices and research facilities in SNU, as well as the National Education Committee, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, and presidents’ offices of other public universities in Korea. In this way, the Diversity Council extends its reach in not only the campus but also nationwide.

Written by Cheesue Kim, SNU English Editor, cheesue@snu.ac.kr
Reviews by Professor Travis Smith, Department of Asian Languages and Civilizations, tlsmith@snu.ac.kr