A lack of talent in the IT field is said to act as a stumbling block in Korea's pursuit of becoming a genuine IT powerhouse.
So the Ministry of Knowledge Economy announced last week it will revamp the current system by 2013 in order to better nurture efficient professionals.
[Interview : Jeon Sang-hwon, Director General
Ministry of Knowledge Economy] "IT industry insiders say there is not enough skilled talent they can hire. While students who major in the field complain that they cannot practice enough before they work on-site, and that there are not enough jobs for them."
While the number of undergrads in the IT field is in excess of over 18-thousand the industry is short of talent with masters or doctorate degrees by more than one-thousand.
To combat this the government plans to expand support for graduate schools from the current 49 percent of the total IT nurturing program budget to 67 percent while reducing support for undergraduate schools from 38 percent to 5 percent.
Meanwhile incentives will be given to professors and universities who help enhance cooperation between schools and companies.
Undergrad students will also have greater opportunities to work as interns as the number of participants in the "IT mentoring" program will be tripled to over nine-thousand.
[Interview : Jeon Sang-hwon, Director General
Ministry of Knowledge Economy] "Small- and medium-sized firms that hire students who have participated in the "IT mentoring" program will be financially supported with one-million won per person for as long as six months."
That is around 850 US dollars.
It will also become easier for smaller firms to further educate employees as companies will pay for only 20 percent of their education costs at private centers.
And 2.5 billion won or roughly 2 million dollars will be granted to select universities over the next decade to help them nurture well-skilled professionals.
By 2013 over 340 million dollars will be spent in the IT sector to foster more than 40-thousand people in the field.
[Reporter : JANG SOUIE
sjang@arirang.co.kr] "Despite the large number of IT professionals entering the workforce in Korea each year domestic companies are struggling with a talent shortage.
However, through the proposed measures the government hopes to gain an edge in the IT industry in which competitiveness relies heavily on human resources.
Jang Sou-ie, Arirang News."
FEB 09, 2010
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Thursday, SEP 09, 2010, (KST) 
