The Ministry of Science, Information and Communications Technology (MSIT) reported on April 4th that it had selected three universities including SKKU to open AI graduate schools this year.
The Korean government’s support for the AI graduate school is a part of the effort to nurture highly qualified world-class professionals in the AI field which has a shortage of professional human resources worldwide. The support has been designed to catch up with the global trend as other countries such as the United States (US) and China establish specialized education institutes for AI. The government is trying to nurture talented professionals who have the ability to combine AI Core knowledge with many other fields of study. 12 universities applied for the support program, and the government selected three of them. Each university will receive one billion won this year and is expected to receive nine billion won over five years. Also, the program will support up to nineteen billion won over ten years after a staged assessment. Each selected university has its own plan. SKKU is planning to gather 15 professors studying in the AI field and then develop specialized education and research. There will also be cooperative works with 39 companies for field study for AI innovation research, including Samsung Electronics and Naver, which will enhance industry-university cooperation. SKKU AI graduate school will admit a total of 60 students consisting of 45 masters and 15 doctors. The SKKU graduate school is going to open a department that is related to AI for the upcoming 2019 fall semester.