Second Vice Minister of Science and ICT Park Yun-kyu, eighth from right, poses for a photo with officials of leading local IT firms at LG Sciencepark in Gangseo District, southwestern Seoul, Thursday. Courtesy of Ministry of Science and ICT

By Lee Kyung-min

A cooperative body comprised of the government, industry, academia and research institutes will be established in September to foster digital experts, the government said Thursday.

Education and training of students will prioritize initiative-oriented self-learning, a process to be nurtured and fortified by private-public cooperation seeking early and full utilization of entry-level employees at high-tech firms.

These objectives are policy directives of the Ministry of Science and ICT announced by Second Vice Minister Park Yun-kyu during a meeting at LG Sciencepark in Gangseo District, southwestern Seoul.

"Science and ICT education will encourage students to learn not only from books but also practical experiences," he said. "Universities will accordingly be elevated to research-intensive high-tech training facilities where promising and gifted young people can identify their interests early on and continue to develop a deep understanding of their chosen fields."

Graduate school programs will be set up to expedite integrated undergrad learning courses at universities with sizable and stable state grants.

Masters and doctorate programs will be available at government-designated universities and state-run research institutes, where a large number of specialists with expertise in artificial intelligence (AI), metaverse, semiconductors and cybersecurity will be nurtured. Also to be expanded is the pool of professors and teaching assistants with relevant experience and research specialties.

Undergrads regardless of their majors will be able to explore job programs to broaden the scope of their specialties to parts, materials and equipment industries, the key growth drivers of the country.

At the event, officials of Korea's leading IT firms ― LG, Samsung, Naver, Kakao, KT and SKT ― called for an increase in tax benefits for businesses to help bolster corporate productivity and efficient budget spending.

The firms said they were expanding education and training programs to facilitate digital literacy, an effort that would be better rewarded by strengthening evaluation and detail-oriented curriculum.

The vice minister said in response that nurturing highly-skilled experts takes time. "We need to make efforts to land and retain a highly capable talent pool. Discussion is ongoing with the education ministry to fine-tune the education plan to include elementary and secondary schools. Concrete plans will be announced by the end of this month."