Due to the serious shortage of manpower, Samsung and SK Hynix strengthen joint training with Korean universities

According to a report from Businesskorea, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix are planning to train 1,160 future employees through joint courses with universities over the next five years. That’s because the industry’s manpower shortage in South Korea is estimated to reach 30,000 by 2031, while the current annual output of graduate students is only around 150.

Samsung Electronics launched its courses at Yonsei University and Sungkyunkwan University last year, and this year at the Korea Institute of Science and Technology and Pohang University of Science and Technology, the report said. SK hynix was at Korea University last year, and this year at Sogang and Hanyang University as well. About 360 relevant students will graduate from these seven universities each year. But that number isn’t enough for either company, which is working with the Korea Semiconductor Industry Association to try to persuade Seoul National University to join next year.

The ultimate solution, according to the two companies, is not a curriculum, but a long-term national strategy that includes expanding semiconductor-related departments at universities in Seoul and Gyeonggi-do. But under the Seoul Metropolitan Area Readjustment and Planning Act, the universities were deemed too concentrated to increase the number of new students.

The expansion of the university is one of 110 national policy goals announced by the Presidential Transition Council on May 3, the report said. Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix are planning to ask the incoming government to make it real in the near future. A year ago, the Moon Jae-in government decided not to allow expansion on the grounds that it “contradicts the balanced development of the region.”