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Nurturing talent for future industries in ‘future vehicle, semiconductor, & bio’ sectors
Writer 국제교류팀 최지영
Date 2023.02.02
View Count 457
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Dankook University is expanding its investments in fostering essential talent needed for new industries in the future, such as future vehicles, semiconductors, biohealth, and hydrogen-related sectors.


 

First, a convergent semiconductor engineering major (80 students) was newly set up at the undergraduate level to advance the semiconductor sector with a specialized curriculum that covers areas such as semiconductor devices, material, processes, circuit design, and reliability tests. The Foundry Engineering Department was introduced to the graduate program last September where students take a deep dive into the system semiconductor fabrication process. Professors from five departments, including the Department of Electronics and Electrical Engineering, teach inter-disciplinary courses in all aspects of semiconductor fabrication, including power, material, parts, and equipment. Starting in 2023, employees from Samsung Electronics’ semiconductor business will be brought as guest professors as part of an industry-academia collaboration effort to teach courses on how to generate added-value to the future semiconductor industry and will also engage in joint research with the university.

 

Meanwhile, the Department of Mechanical Engineering is also stepping up to nurture professional talent called for in the development and production of future vehicles as it won a major government project this year. In addition to landing research initiatives for digital manufacturing equipment and AI-collaborative robots, the department is capable of producing over 30 graduates with masters and doctorate each year, not to mention students completing the undergraduate program to serve in the fields of ecofriendly vehicles and smart sensors.


 

Talent development in bio-healthcare is also on track. Dankook is the lead university in the convergence and open sharing system for biohealth and came in at the top of the list of the 56 universities participating in the initiative in the first-year evaluation of the project. Eighty-five bio convergence courses were opened on various topics including ‘AI-driven genetic disease diagnosis,’ and an intensive curriculum was implemented to make the courses available for students from other universities in the consortium. More than six thousand students have already completed courses on the new shared education platform that was set up to support the university’s plans to foster 25 thousand bio specialists by 2026.


 

In addition, investments are underway in the development of hydrogen energy, which is a leading component of a carbon-neutral society. Last year, Dankook transferred four premier material technologies related to hydrogen, which amounted to KRW 1.8 billion. The hydrogen separation and production technology that was transferred was acclaimed as an outstanding result of industry-academia collaboration that can be utilized by material-parts-equipment companies to secure global competitiveness quickly as it improves domestic separator manufacturing technology, cuts energy costs, reduces process unit costs, and strengthens durability when producing hydrogen.


 

The LINC+ 3.0 program (phase 3 of the Leaders in INdustry-university Cooperation) has also grown into a substantial talent development program. DKU plans to invest a total KRW 35 billion by 2027 including KRW 24 billion in government grants and KRW 11 billion in educational expenditures that include start-up funds to develop talent for future industries and bring the industry-academia cooperation ecosystem to global levels under the goal of achieving ‘total and open industry-academia cooperation.’

 

Five industrial collaboration centers opened to nurture talent in cutting-edge fields, such as ICT and biotechnology, as well as strengthen partnerships with businesses in medical biotechnology, ICT, and material-parts-equipment. Currently, support is also being extended to connective major, convergence major, and micro major programs where 450 teaching staff and over 13 thousand students are participating across 60 academic departments.