Universities to get help to foster semiconductor talent

President Yoon Suk Yeol examines a semiconductor wafer during a visit to KAIST in Daejeon last April. [YONHAP]

The government on Tuesday announced plans to allocate 54 billion won ($40.7 million) to help several universities across the nation foster semiconductor talent this year in hopes of producing more than 400 high-performing semiconductor graduates annually.

The so-called semiconductor-specialized universities will be chosen through a public bid scheduled to last through May.

Two universities will be selected in the Seoul metropolitan area, which refers to Seoul, Incheon and Gyeonggi, while three universities will be picked outside the Seoul metropolitan area.

Three university coalitions will also be selected — one in the Seoul metropolitan area and two outside of it.

The eight winners will be granted a combined 54 billion won this year alone. Whether or not more funding will be offered in the following three years will be determined after discussions with relevant ministries, the Education Ministry said.

Candidates will be screened on their plans to establish new departments related to semiconductors, their semiconductor curricula and details on how they will establish the needed infrastructure.

The ministry’s latest announcement is a follow-up to President Yoon Suk Yeol’s emphasis on semiconductor education last year.

Last July, the Education Ministry vowed to produce more than 150,000 semiconductor college graduates over the next decade, stressing that the country’s semiconductor industry actually needs up to 304,000 such graduates by 2031.

Last year, about 650 people graduated with a bachelor’s degree in semiconductors.

Now with the semiconductor industry growing, the Education Ministry recently said that numerous universities have asked the government for permission to accept more freshmen in their semiconductor departments.

If all the requests are authorized, there will be more than 1,500 semiconductor freshmen for the 2024 school year, a ministry official told the JoongAng Ilbo.

While the government seeks to help universities outside the Seoul metropolitan area from losing talented applicants to schools in the capital through the semiconductor program, some critics doubt the tactic will work.

According to Jongro Academy, a private education institute, of the 29 university semiconductor departments nationwide, Hanyang University’s Department of Semiconductor Engineering in Seongdong District, eastern Seoul, had the most competitive admission rate at 11.9 to 1 in the latest admissions.

In stark contrast, only eight students applied for the 38 spots available at a similar semiconductor program at Jungwon University in Goesan County, North Chungcheong.

Lim Sung-ho, head of Jongro Academy, said that even if more universities outside the greater Seoul area accept more freshmen in the semiconductor field, students likely won’t bother to apply unless the programs come with job guarantees at conglomerates such as Samsung Electronics or SK hynix, which is the case at some leading universities.

BY LEE SUNG-EUN, CHOI MIN-JI [lee.sungeun@joongang.co.kr]