Ministry of Science and Technology to support 6 billion won each for up to 55 years… Metaverse trains 440 masters and doctorates

 

The Ministry of Science and ICT announced on the 2th that it has selected two universities, KAIST and Sogang University, for the 'Metaverse Convergence Graduate School Support Project' newly established this year to foster top-notch R&D personnel who will lead the virtual convergence world service.

Starting with 5 million won this year, each university selected this time will receive a total of 6 billion won for up to six years after a step-by-step evaluation. The two selected universities will establish and operate the Metaverse Convergence Graduate School from the second semester of this year.

A total of six universities applied for this project. Among them, KAIST and Sogang University presented differentiated operation plans for metaverse-specialized research and curriculum development and operation, metaverse industry-academic cooperation project discovery, and student quota securing.

The Metaverse Graduate School of Convergence operates major and multi-disciplinary courses that converge element technologies and humanities and social fields necessary for the implementation of the Metaverse service, and solves current issues in the Metaverse industry by forming an industry-academic cooperation system with various Metaverse-related companies. proceed in such a way that

Element technologies include XR, big data, networks, artificial intelligence, block chain, and digital twin. Humanities and social sciences include arts, business administration, psychology, media, and storytelling.

MSIT plans to nurture high-level convergence talents who can lead the metaverse industry by understanding all stages of metaverse service planning, development, and commercialization based on humanities and technical understanding, and developing, applying, and advancing core technologies. .

KAIST established the 'Post Metaverse Research Center' in a dedicated space additionally secured with metaverse lecture rooms and joint studios to open it up for partner companies to use it as a platform for industry-university cooperation, and to systematically conduct metaverse convergence research. provide an environment Through human resource exchanges with partner companies such as industry-university scholarship students and internships, the quality of metaverse research content will be improved, and students will be provided with opportunities to learn advanced technologies, etc.

Sogang University secures an admission quota of 60 students every year and trains 2027 high-level talents by 330. In particular, PIP (PBL-Internship-PBL) education, which allows students to listen to a series of subjects in a year, rather than a semester-based segmented education, reinforces the integrated expertise required in practice.

In the PIP curriculum, students take the PBL (Project Based Learning) course, plan a project to solve the immediate problems of the partner company in the first semester, and develop it into a more sophisticated plan through an internship on vacation. Through this, in the second semester, it is a series of courses that allow students to develop actual prototypes according to the plan, so that students can grow into convergence talents with planning and development capabilities together.

Heo Won-seok, MSIT Software Policy Officer, said, “In a situation where the digital transformation is accelerating and the global technological hegemony is intensifying, it is very important to nurture global-level convergence talent who will lead the metaverse innovative technology. We will provide active support so that we can quickly respond to the demand for high-quality talent following the rapid growth.”

 

☞ Source: Korea Policy Briefing (2022.05.25.)