‘Employment Powerhouse’ Dongshin University Emerges as a Leading Academy for Public Corporation and Civil Service Jobs

KEPCO and Others Hired 13 Regular Employees Last Year, 4 This Year

Outstanding Scholarships, DS STAR, and Daejeong Program Achievements

Dominating National Support Projects... Focused on Student-Centered Education

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Yoon Jamin] Dongshin University is rapidly emerging as a training academy for employment at public enterprises and government officials in the Innovation City. It is praised not only for its employment rate but also for the qualitative level of employment through educational programs that span both curricular and extracurricular activities.

Dongshin University operates an employment academy project to help students achieve the best employment results in each field. Representative programs include the DS STAR program, which offers exceptional scholarships of up to 4 million KRW + α per semester to nurture outstanding students, and the Daejeong Program, an excellent student employment program by specialized fields.

Students participating in the Daejeong Program are divided into groups such as the KEPCO Innovation City Public Enterprise Employment Group, Government Official Employment Group, General Employment Group, and Overseas Employment Group, and they intensively complete the necessary programs for each field.

Thanks to these programs, Dongshin University has ranked first in employment rates among general universities in Gwangju and Jeonnam (with over 1,000 graduates) for 8 out of the last 10 years from 2009 to 2018.

▲ 17 Regular Employees at Public Enterprises Passed, Over 90 Government Officials Produced

Recently, employment achievements at public institutions in Gwangju-Jeonnam Innovation City, such as Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO), have stood out. Following 13 regular employee hires last year, despite the hiring freeze caused by COVID-19 in the first half of this year, 4 students were employed as regular employees at Innovation City public enterprises: 2 at KEPCO, 1 at KEPCO KDN, and 1 at the Korea Communications Agency.

It is also building a reputation as a government official training academy. This year, it was the only institution in Jeonnam to produce local talent 7th-grade trainee government officials, and 9 students passed the professional counseling teacher appointment exam in 2020.

In the past year alone, it produced over 90 government officials, including 18 firefighters, 8 police officers, 27 military academy second lieutenants from the Department of Military Science, and 2 national/public kindergarten teachers.

Additionally, in 2020, it confirmed its reputation as a well-teaching university by producing 413 successful candidates who passed national exams for health and medical professionals such as Korean medicine doctors, nurses, physical therapists, and radiologists.

▲ Leading the Post-COVID Era... Student-Centered Hybrid Education

Before the start of the second semester, Dongshin University held the ‘2020 Dongshin New Challenge Declaration Ceremony’ and announced the establishment of a new concept hybrid campus that efficiently combines online and offline from academics to classes.

The ‘New Challenge Declaration’ focuses on student-centered education that respects students as partners in education, expansion of the campus beyond regions, countries, and borders, full adoption of hybrid classes actively utilizing online channels, and strengthening eco-friendly education.

Going beyond simply combining face-to-face and non-face-to-face classes, the university plans to innovatively upgrade university education by utilizing effective blended learning and digital content.

To this end, it established the ‘Education Innovation Center’ directly under the president to significantly improve the quality of university education in liberal arts, majors, and extracurricular activities and to innovate the curriculum.

It plans to create a systematic and sustainable mid- to long-term development system for the university, including strengthening teaching and learning capabilities, managing education quality, measuring and evaluating educational outcomes and results, and establishing a virtuous cycle education system.

Especially to lead the post-COVID era and the 4th Industrial Revolution era, it will focus on expanding online education programs, improving education quality, and developing and introducing new university education models as part of educational innovation.

▲ Sweeping National Support Projects... Securing 39 Billion KRW in National Funds

By obtaining the highest A grade in the University Innovation Support Project, including incentives, Dongshin University secured 11.627 billion KRW over three years for innovation support projects, dominating various national support projects and writing a new chapter in the success era of strong regional universities.

This year, it was selected for the Ministry of Education’s ‘2020 4th Industrial Revolution Innovation Leading University’ project (2 years, 2 billion KRW) and the Ministry of SMEs and Startups’ Makerspace Specialized Lab Project (5 years, 7.13 billion KRW).

With government support, it is leading the 4th Industrial Revolution era by nurturing creative convergence talents in the smart energy city industry based on IoT (Internet of Things) technology and specialized makers in new energy industries.

Supporting economically disadvantaged university students with overseas training is also a 2020 achievement of Dongshin University through the Ministry of Education’s Blue Ladder Project. With a total budget of 428 million KRW, it provides short-term overseas training opportunities to about 80 university students.

It participates as a partner university in the Ministry of Education’s Regional Leading University Development Project. With a budget of 500 million KRW, it nurtures talents who can be employed at Innovation City public institutions such as KEPCO, Korea Power Exchange, KEPCO KPS, KEPCO KDN, and Korea Rural Community Corporation.

Selected for the Ministry of Employment and Labor’s University Job Center Support Project (3.5 billion KRW), IPP-type Work-Learning Dual Operation University Support Project (4 billion KRW), Ministry of Employment and Labor’s National Human Resources Development Consortium Southwest Hub Project (6 years, 5.8 billion KRW), and Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy’s Engineering Education Innovation Center Support Project (10 years, 2.615 billion KRW), Dongshin University actively invests in student education with government support, enhancing both the quantitative and qualitative levels of employment rates and education.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.