Specialized High School Students Trained as FTA Practical Experts... 78% Employment Rate Last Year

Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy & KOTRA Announce Recruitment for '2021 Employment-Linked FTA Practical Workforce Training Project'

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Kwon Haeyoung] The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and KOTRA announced on the 21st that they will open recruitment for schools participating in the '2021 Employment-Linked Free Trade Agreement (FTA) Practical Workforce Training Project' on the 22nd.

This project provides export practical training and FTA utilization education to students of specialized high schools and supports employment in export-oriented small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in each region. It is implemented to simultaneously address youth unemployment and the difficulty SMEs face in hiring FTA specialists.

Now in its third year, the employment rate of graduates from the training program reached 87% in 2019 and 78.4% in 2020. This significantly exceeds the overall employment rate of 50.7% for vocational high school graduates last year. The number of companies participating in hiring graduates also increased substantially from 120 in 2019 to 296 in 2020. This year, the number of participating schools will be expanded to 10, and the number of trainees will be increased to about 150, with 15 students per school.

Starting with the announcement of recruitment for interested schools, the process will proceed in the order of school selection and trainee recruitment, FTA practical training, company and student interviews and hiring negotiations, field training, and official employment.

The curriculum consists of theoretical and practical lectures on trade practices, origin management, and FTA utilization, as well as special lectures such as obtaining the Origin Practical Specialist certification and field training. This year, reflecting the opinions of participating companies and schools, the program will be reorganized to meet field demands, including the production of new standard textbooks.

Kim Hyungjoo, Director of Domestic Trade Policy at the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, stated, "This year, we will continue to implement education programs tailored to the manpower needs of companies and actively strive to attract excellent companies. We will also continuously expand the number of participating schools and trainees to support the employment of vocational high school students and the securing of FTA practical workforce for SMEs."

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