The government heard views from university research sites ahead of an overhaul of the national research administration system.

The Ministry of Science and ICT held a meeting on Sept. 18 at the KT West Building in Seoul's Gwanghwamun with a consultative body of heads of industry-academia cooperation units and research office chiefs from universities nationwide, and officials from four science and technology institutes.

The meeting was arranged to explain to researchers key elements of the "2026 National Research and Development Administration System Improvement Plan" approved last month by the deliberation meeting of the National Science and Technology Advisory Council, and to gather views for future implementation measures.

The meeting, chaired by Park In-gyu (박인규), head of the Science and Technology Innovation Office, was attended by members of the nationwide consultative body of university industry-academia cooperation unit heads from universities including Korea University, Chonbuk National University, Konkuk University and Inha University, and officials from four science and technology institutes including the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST).

The ministry is pushing ahead with reforms to the national research administration system, including evaluation of research and development projects, settlement of research funds and research allowances. It plans to revise related regulations within the year and to fully implement the improvements from 2027. The plan includes promoting challenging research through an overhaul of the project evaluation system, strengthening autonomy and accountability in spending research funds, improving the efficiency of research administration and systematising management of international joint research.

The meeting held presentations and a question-and-answer session on 4 topics: detailed measures for reforming the project evaluation system, improvements to standards for allocating research allowances, unifying settlement standards for R&D expenses, and measures to strengthen the research security system. Participants presented difficulties at research sites and directions for institutional improvement, including how projects are evaluated to raise research ambition, standards for recognising research expenses and issues related to supporting documents.

The ministry said, in response to some concerns that reforms to the research allowance system could lead to reduced compensation for researchers, that the total amount paid in research allowances would not decrease. It said easing the concentration of research allowances on specific researchers could instead increase payments to postdoctoral researchers and non-tenured faculty members who participate in the same projects.

Park said, "We will faithfully reflect the views presented today in the process of drawing up detailed measures, and will continue to communicate with key research sites such as universities to complete the system improvements."