As the supply and demand of domestic advanced human resources has emerged as a key issue in the industrial sector, efforts to foster domestic talent in promising future fields such as semiconductors, future mobility, and AI are in full swing.

The Ministry of SMEs and Startups announced on the 2nd that it has newly selected universities to train SME personnel focusing on promising future fields in order to respond to changes in industrial structure and foster key talents in SMEs in new technology and new industries.

A total of 17 universities, including 12 universities hosting the 'Small and Medium Business Contract Department' and 5 universities hosting the 'Technical Officer Training Program', were selected as universities to train personnel for small and medium-sized businesses in promising future fields.

In particular, 5 out of 17 universities were selected for the semiconductor field, and a total of 9 universities (5 contract departments and 4 technical officer departments), including 4 already in operation, are expected to support the supply and demand of semiconductor manpower in the future. The newly selected universities for training semiconductor personnel are Kyung Hee University’s Department of Semiconductor Convergence (Master’s), Chungwon University’s Department of Semiconductor Convergence (Bachelor’s), and Hankyung National University’s Department of Semiconductor Engineering (Master’s). In addition, Gyeongnam Information College’s Department of Semiconductor (Associate’s Degree), and Yeungnam College of Technology’s ICT Semiconductor Electronics Department (Associate’s Degree) will be conducting training for personnel through linked high schools.

In addition, the small and medium-sized business contract departments selected this time are expected to meet the recently increased demand for specialized manpower in small and medium-sized businesses as most of them are master's and doctoral programs.

The Small and Medium Business Contract Department is a talent development program that establishes degree courses at universities and supports the acquisition of degrees (associate bachelor's to doctoral degrees, 2 years per course) for employees (or prospective employees) of small and medium businesses, thereby fostering them as key personnel for the company through a pre-employment, post-graduate education method.

Through the technical officer training program, we provide four years of linked education, including two years at a vocational high school and two years at a junior college, to systematically train technical personnel required by small and medium-sized businesses.

Each host university will go through preparatory work such as designing educational programs, building educational infrastructure, and recruiting students, and will open and operate the curriculum in September 2023.
Students, small and medium-sized enterprises, and employees (or prospective employees) of small and medium-sized enterprises who wish to participate in the Small and Medium-sized Enterprise Contract Department and Technical Officer Program should apply according to the recruitment guidelines of each hosting university.

Minister Lee Young said, “Due to the concentration of key professionals in new industries and new technologies in large corporations, small and medium-sized enterprises in related fields have been experiencing a serious shortage of personnel for a long time,” and added, “I hope that the small and medium-sized enterprise human resource development universities selected this time will inject new vitality into the small and medium-sized enterprise sector by training current and prospective employees of small and medium-sized enterprises to become key talents in promising fields of the future.”