학술진흥을 위한 입법적 과제 - 학술진흥법과 과학기술기본법과의 관계를 중심으로 -

The Academic Promotion Act was enacted to support academic activities of the fields of natural science and engineering as well as those of humanities and social sciences. It further provides the legal basis for Korea’s national academic progress. We need to design a delicate and refined academic support system through the Academic Promotion Act so that the academia could contribute not only to the freedom of individuals but also to the mutual exchange and cooperation between different fields of studies which will ultimately raise the international competitiveness and status of Korea’s academia as well as Korea’s economy. In particular, Research and Support Programs organized by the Ministry of Education are the necessary condition to for the construction of a national and social humanities foundation and social consolidation and consensus by supporting the fields of humanities and social sciences which are relatively disadvantaged compared with engineering and natural science. However, there is uncertainty whether national research and development’s denotation can be expanded through extending the concept of ‘academic’ under the Academic Promotion Act. However, by systematically interpreting the Science and Technology Framework Act, which is the basis of national research and development, and the current Academic Promotion Act, the Ministry of Education can conduct some academic development projects, but this is different from the concept of academic promotion in the Academic Promotion Act. In addition, research and development projects administered by the Ministry of Education are distinctly their own research projects because these projects are funded by the Minister of Science, ICT and Future Planning. Furthermore, if the Academic Promotion Act is forced to include research and development projects in academic promotion, this Act will dilute the original intent of the legislation concerned. Therefore, the Academic Promotion Act should be confined to supporting basic studies and academic projects. In this way, it can correspond with the current jurisprudence and interpretation of the enacted laws. Furthermore, the Academic Promotion Act should be improved in many ways, especially regarding its promotion system and fund supply, to fulfill the original purpose and intent of the legislation concerned. According to the Academic Promotion Act, the duty of academic promotion currently rests upon the Minister of Education, but considering the diversity of the academic field and the complexity of supporting projects, the Minister of Education should have a committee with independent voting rights to ensure expertise. Even if the Academic Promotion Act is interpreted to include some research development projects into the concepts of academic promotion and academic support projects, the budget is not automatically secured since this interpretation is related only to the range of duty, and therefore the budget for research projects should be stipulated in the Act.