We are recruiting a lead university to foster specialized personnel for small and medium-sized enterprises in the semiconductor industry by leveraging the university's excellent educational infrastructure.

The Ministry of SMEs and Startups announced on the 24th that it is recruiting new 'Technical Officer' project teams and universities to host 'SME contract departments'.

This is a follow-up measure to the 'Semiconductor Talent Development Plan' announced by the government last July, aimed at expanding the training and supply of specialized personnel for small and medium-sized enterprises in the semiconductor industry.

The 'Technical Officer' program is designed to systematically train technical personnel for small and medium-sized enterprises through a total of four years of linked education, including two years at a specialized high school and two years at a junior college.

The 'SME Contract Department' is a workforce training program based on the 'employment first, education later' method, which establishes degree courses (Associate's degree to Doctorate, 2 years per course) at universities to support professional education and degree acquisition for employees (or prospective employees) of SMEs.

While the Professional Engineer program trains and supplies new technical personnel at the level of Industrial Engineers, the SME Contract Department program fosters core talent—such as (professional) bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degree holders—through retraining centered on incumbent employees.

Typically, recruitment announcements for new managing organizations are made at the end of the year, but considering the importance and urgency of training personnel for the semiconductor industry, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups plans to promptly select and support 2 to 3 contract departments for SMEs and 2 to 3 technical officer training units specifically for the semiconductor industry, with the goal of opening them in March 2023.

For newly selected junior colleges in the Technical Officer Project Group, expenses such as material costs and practical training fees will be provided.It provides approximately 300 million won annually in training expenses, and supports technical officer students with obtaining certifications and preferential treatment in recommending them for industrial technical personnel.

Students in contract departments for small and medium-sized enterprises receive support for a portion (65–100%) of the tuition required to obtain a degree, and the host university receives support for the costs incurred in operating the contract department (35 million won per semester) for three years.

The recruitment period for the Technical Officer Project Group and the universities hosting the SME Contract Department is from August 24 to September 23, and applications can be submitted through the SME Human Resources Support Project Comprehensive Management System.

In addition, more detailed information can be found on the SME Human Resources Support Project Comprehensive Management System or the Enterprise Plaza.

Jeong Seon-wook, Director of Human Resource Development at the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, stated, “As the workforce shortage in the semiconductor industry has intensified, we will expedite the establishment of the Technical Officer program and contract departments for SMEs to accelerate the ‘cultivation of semiconductor-related talent.’ Furthermore, we plan to continuously expand SME workforce development programs, such as contract departments and Technical Officers, to foster specialized personnel who will lead the semiconductor industry’s super-gap.”