ACADEMIC links were reinforced between UST and South Korea’s Chungnam National University as their faculty members discussed social welfare policies and environmental concerns last June 23 at the Artlets Audio-Visual room.
Professors from the two universities presented dissertations relevant to Korean and Filipino societies.
Korean professor Do-Lim Choi discussed the merit system used by the Korean government to give just compensation to its laborers.
Dr. Emmanuel Lopez, Faculty of Arts and Letters Social Sciences Department chair, explained how Korea’s merit system differs from the Philippines’ salary standardization method.
“Instead of a standard salary like what we have here in the Philippines, the Korean government employs a merit system, wherein pay rates are based on the performance of laborers, and not on their position in an establishment,” Lopez said.
In his study “Social Welfare and Motivation in Public Service”, Artlets professor Edwin Martin discussed salary standardization in a hierarchical perspective, as practiced in the Philippines.
Martin, who teaches Public Administration at the Artlets, focused on the benefits the Philippine government provides its employees, as well as its salary system.
Contrary to the Korean merit system, the Philippines uses salary standardization, which ensures uniformity in employee pay, Martin said.
“The bureaucratic basis of salary standardization provides much needed uniformity and avoids biases in pay rates,” he said.
He added the bureaucracy should be viewed as a structure, which puts order in governance, apart from its negative associations.
Meanwhile, Prof. Arlen Ancheta stressed the importance of active people’s participation in achieving a livable environment, in her dissertation Environmental Pollution and Solid Waste Management.
Ancheta focused on the role of local government units and Metro Manila Development Authority in solid waste management, from waste generation to waste disposal.
Topics presented during the seminar generated interest among the Korean delegates. “I think that’s one good offshoot of the seminar,” Ancheta said.
The Faculty plans to send delegates to Korea to conduct similar discussions in line with the exchange program.
Chungnam National University is a South Korean state university of around 27,000 students and 49 research centers.
Twenty-one Korean delegates took part in the seminar. Lady Camille L. de Guia with reports from J. C. B. Bautista
