150,000 Engineers to Be Nurtured over 10 Years
The nation's semiconductor companies have welcomed the Korean government's plan to foster 150,000 semiconductor engineers over the next 10 years. They said the plan will ease a shortage of human resources at chipmakers.
The plan, announced by related ministries on July 19, is aimed at nurturing semiconductor-related engineers to address a manpower shortage in the semiconductor sector and establishing a virtuous cycle of human resources development and the growth of the Korean semiconductor industry.
The plan envisages nurturing 150,000 semiconductor engineers over the next 10 years. The government will increase the student quotas of semiconductor-related departments at universities by about 5,700. The government will allow a college to increase the student quota of its semiconductor department when it secures the required number of professors, regardless of other requirements.
The semiconductor industry has welcomed the plan. For years, many colleges in Seoul and Gyeonggi Province have sought to raise the student quotas of their semiconductor departments, but could not in the face of opposition from those in other parts of the nation.
The Korean semiconductor industry needs 1,500 new engineers a year, but semiconductor departments can only provide 650, failing to meet the needs of the industry.
“The new plan will allow Korean semiconductor makers to take a breather in securing manpower,” said an industry insider.