POSCO Group Establishes Regular Course on 'Corporate Citizenship Management and ESG' at Key National Universities

by Jeong Donghoon

Published 24 Apr.2023 16:10(KST)

On the 21st, POSCO Group signed an MOU with the Council of Presidents of National Key Universities at Pusan National University to foster corporate citizen-type local talent in the ESG era. The event was attended by Kim Hak-dong, Vice Chairman and CEO of POSCO, Cha Jung-in, President of Pusan National University and Chair of the Council of Presidents of National Key Universities, presidents of Seoul, Gangwon, Gyeongbuk, Gyeongsang, Jeonnam, Jeonbuk, Jeju, Chungnam, and Chungbuk National Universities belonging to the council, as well as about 20 officials from the Ministry of Education.

On the 21st, POSCO Group signed an MOU with the Council of Presidents of 10 National Key Universities at Pusan National University to promote regional balanced development and foster corporate citizen-type talent. From the left in the photo, Cha Jeong-in, President of Pusan National University, and Kim Hak-dong, Vice Chairman and CEO of POSCO, are taking a commemorative photo. Photo by POSCO

Domestic and international academia and specialized research institutions have noted that POSCO Group proactively responded to ESG management by declaring corporate citizenship as its management philosophy in 2018.

Since 2021, POSCO Group has supported universities such as Sookmyung Women’s University, Seoul Women’s University, and POSTECH to offer ‘Corporate Citizenship Management and ESG’ as a regular course. This year, to promote regional balanced development and nurture corporate citizen-type talent, the target schools have been expanded to national key universities, and courses are currently being conducted at Chungnam National University, Jeonbuk National University, and Jeju National University. In the second semester, the course will be offered and operated at Kangwon National University, Chungbuk National University, Gyeongbuk National University, Jeonnam National University, Gyeongsang National University, Pusan National University, and Jeju National University.

The ‘Corporate Citizenship Management and ESG’ course is operated using a PBL (Problem·Project-Based Learning) method, sharing actual corporate management issues with students and proposing alternatives. Students undertake projects to discover creative ideas and find solutions to social problems that companies need to solve. To assist with this, POSCO Group provides mentoring from corporate citizenship dedicated staff members of its business units including POSCO, POSCO International, POSCO E&C, POSCO Future M, POSCO Flow, POSCO Steelion, POSCO Mobility Solutions, POSCO Wide, SNNC, and N2B.

At the event, Kim Hak-dong, Vice Chairman and CEO of POSCO, said, “POSCO declared corporate citizenship as its management philosophy and is actively engaging in diverse activities to create positive environmental and social impacts beyond its role as an economic profit creator in our society. We will ensure that the spirit of ‘corporate citizenship,’ which grows and develops together with society, is well known to the future generation leaders, including students of national key universities, so that we can contribute together to a sustainable society.”

Cha Jung-in, President of Pusan National University, said, “Supporting the establishment of corporate citizenship courses at national key universities to nurture local talent is a very meaningful activity,” and added, “I hope that corporate efforts for regional balanced development will further expand through this agreement between the national key universities and POSCO.”

Meanwhile, as the government promotes regulatory innovation and the establishment of support systems for regional universities to play a central role in revitalizing local areas, POSCO Group is leading the establishment of a virtuous cycle system of ‘local talent development → employment/entrepreneurship → residence’ by opening the ‘Corporate Citizenship Management and ESG’ course at national key universities and linking it with employment programs. Furthermore, POSCO plans to develop this into a new industry-academic cooperation model in consultation with the Ministry of Education and other related ministries so that many companies can participate.