Vocational High Schools Train Semiconductor Talent... 53 Departments Reorganized into New Industry Departments

The Ministry of Education announced on the 13th that it has selected 70 schools and 96 departments as targets for the '2023 Vocational High School Restructuring Support Project.'

The Vocational High School Restructuring Support Project is a program that helps reorganize vocational high school departments that have lost competitiveness. Since 2016, the Ministry of Education has supported the restructuring of a total of over 900 departments.

Through this year's support project, a significant number of departments will be redesigned focusing on new industries and new technologies.

Among the selected departments, 53 will be reorganized into new industry and new technology fields such as semiconductors, software (SW), intelligent factories (smart factories), and artificial intelligence (AI), which is five times the number from last year (11).

Eight departments will be reorganized mainly around regional strategic projects, and 35 departments will be reorganized for the school's own development.

Ten courses were also selected for the newly established micro-curriculum this year.

The micro-curriculum refers to a small credit unit curriculum composed of various subjects designed to cultivate convergent abilities in new industries and new technologies linked to majors.

For example, Mokpo Technical High School, selected this time, established a 'Secondary Battery Convergence Operation Practical Course' that students from the Electrical and Chemical Engineering departments can jointly participate in. Each major's students receive convergent education linked to electrical and chemical engineering to grow into specialized secondary battery professionals.

The micro-curriculum will accept new students starting from the 2025 academic year after a one-year preparation period.

The Ministry of Education and each metropolitan and provincial office of education plan to provide ordinary grants of about 250 million KRW per class for department restructuring to ensure stable restructuring of the selected schools, and special grants of about 300 million KRW per micro-curriculum.

They also plan to support consulting linked with the industry and expand opportunities for teachers' field training and corporate site visits.

Choi Chang-ik, Director of Lifelong Vocational Education Policy at the Ministry of Education, said, "The role of vocational high schools in nurturing entry- and mid-level technical talents is very important for the development of advanced industries," adding, "The Ministry of Education will also strongly support vocational high schools so that they can boldly undertake reforms to meet the demands of the new era."

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