Establishment of Eco-friendly, Smart Pet, and AI Departments... Restructuring of Departments in 21 Specialized High Schools in Seoul

Restructuring of Specialized High School Departments: 21 Schools and 27 Departments Selected
5 Billion KRW Budget Support per Department for Equipment and Educational Activities
300 Million KRW Support Each for 4 Artificial Intelligence High Schools

Overview of the Vocational High School Restructuring Support Project (Source: Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education)

[Asia Economy Reporter Han Jinju] The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education is supporting the restructuring and reorganization of departments in 21 specialized high schools to cultivate talent in new industry fields.

On the 14th, the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education announced that 27 departments across 21 schools were selected as targets for the specialized high school department restructuring project, which is being promoted jointly with the Ministry of Education.

Since 2016, the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education has been conducting department restructuring tailored to regional conditions and industrial demand. This aims to reorganize departments lacking competitiveness due to rapidly changing industrial structures and demands, and to expand departments with competitiveness to enhance the competitiveness of vocational high schools.

This year, many departments in new industry fields such as Smart PET Management, Eco-friendly Automobile, Companion Animal Care, Bio Cosmetic, and AI Electronics were selected for restructuring.

The selected schools will receive a budget of 500 million KRW per department (2 classes) to secure facilities and equipment necessary for improving practical training environments for specialized subject curriculum operation, as well as for student educational activities and learning material development. The Office of Education will support the preparation for recruiting new students in the restructured departments through curriculum organization and operation consulting and training.

In addition, specialized high schools capable of operating departments focused on artificial intelligence are being selected and supported as AI High Schools. Four schools were selected last year, and this year, Kwangwoon Electronics Technical High School, Semyung Computer High School, Hansei Cyber Security High School, and Songpa Technical High School were selected as AI High Schools. A budget of 300 million KRW per school is provided to establish a foundation for AI specialized technical education.

The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education has approved the reorganization of 39 departments, including Police Administration and Non-commissioned Officer Administration, as newly established departments by the education office itself, considering regional characteristics, student and parent demand, and school conditions, and will recruit new students for specialized high schools for the 2022 academic year.

Cho Hee-yeon, Superintendent of the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education, stated, "We will actively support the systematic establishment of a specialized high school education system that responds to the already arrived Fourth Industrial Revolution era to revitalize vocational education, and through this, cultivate technical talents in new industry fields equipped with future core competencies and expertise."

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