The Ministry of Science and ICT (Deputy Prime Minister and Minister Bae Kyung-hoon) on August 27 visited a leading company participating in the ‘ICT Credit-Linked Project Internship’ program—under which undergraduates carry out internships at information and communications technology (ICT) firms and earn academic credit—and held an awards ceremony at COEX to recognize outstanding achievements. The average employment rate of the program’s graduates over the past four years reached 89.3 percent, far exceeding the average employment rate for engineering graduates (71.2 percent) over the same period.
 [코리안투데이] Awards ceremony for outstanding achievements in the Ministry of Science and ICT’s ICT credit-linked internship program © 장형임 기자 |
Operated by the Ministry of Science and ICT and the Institute of Information & Communications Technology Planning & Evaluation (IITP, President Hong Jin-bae), the ICT Credit-Linked Project Internship launched in 2015 and has now surpassed a decade of operation. It is an industry-academia cooperation program that supports undergraduates in gaining hands-on experience at domestic and overseas artificial intelligence (AI) and information technology (IT) companies and linking that experience to academic credit, with the aim of easing the dual burden students face as they prepare for both graduation and employment.
The program’s purpose goes beyond simply providing field training. Its emphasis lies in creating a virtuous cycle in which small and medium-sized enterprises and startups that struggle to find talent are connected with young people seeking practical experience, so that easing corporate workforce shortages and securing youth jobs go hand in hand. Through 2025, a total of 3,053 students have benefited from the program’s internship and credit-linkage opportunities.
The results are borne out in employment figures. The average employment rate of graduates who took part in the field internships came to 89.3 percent from 2022 to 2025. That is 18.1 percentage points higher than the 71.2 percent average employment rate for engineering graduates over the same period, drawn from the Ministry of Education’s employment statistics survey of higher-education graduates. In effect, the program has become a genuine pathway that leads young people from academic credit to practical work experience and, ultimately, to stable employment.
At the COEX ceremony, 15 outstanding participants—selected on the basis of their internship project achievements carried out from the second half of 2025 through the first half of 2026 and evaluations of the interns by their host companies—received awards. These comprised one recipient of the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Science and ICT’s Award, four recipients of the IITP President’s Award, and ten recipients of the Federation of Korean Information Industries Chairman’s Award. Among the exemplary companies that provided an environment for students to build practical skills, The Pinkfong Company received the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Science and ICT’s Award. Award recipients then shared their best-practice cases through presentations, offering a look at achievements from the field.
Ahead of the ceremony, the Ministry of Science and ICT visited Nota AI, a consistent participant in the program, to inspect the youth internship site firsthand and gather feedback. Nota AI is a technology company specializing in on-device generative AI and AI model optimization; it listed on the KOSDAQ last year and works with global companies including NVIDIA, Sony, and Qualcomm. The meeting was attended by students taking part in the 2026 first- and second-half internships, along with a senior engineer who had been hired by the company after completing a credit-linked internship there in 2020. The students suggested, among other things, diversifying internship projects and extending the length of field placements, and the ministry pledged to actively reflect voices from the field in the future operation of the program.
Park Tae-wan, Director-General for Information and Communications Industry Policy, said, ‘Thanks to the passion and dedication of universities, companies, and students, this program has contributed to the development of the ICT industry ecosystem over the past ten years,’ adding, ‘The Ministry of Science and ICT will not stop at celebrating this year’s achievements but will continue to work closely with universities and companies, maintaining our interest and support so that the program can be of real help to young people.’
지역 홍보대사 신청 기자양성과정 신청 코리안투데이 지부장 신청 코리안투데이 인천강화
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