Dongseo University (DSU) has been selected as one of the recipients of a government grant related to the Leaders in Industry-College Cooperation (LINC) project. The purpose of the project is to give talented students an opportunity to gain workplace experience through cooperation with local businesses. LINC will provide 170 trillion won to universities around Korea involved in the program, of which DSU will receive 2.88 trillion won annually for five years.
On May 28, the Ministry of Education, Science, and Technology (MEST) and the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) announced the 51 universities selected as recipients of the grant, which were chosen among the 92 universities from all over the country that initially applied for LINC. Selectiops included 14 universities in the field of technical innovation and 37 in the field of on-site practice-based education. According to a spokesman from MEST, “As work experience increasingly becomes the focus of education, it is expected that universities will adapt to the necessity of improving the cooperation between industry and education.”
LINC supports the cooperation of universities and industry with the aims of developing graduates for the workforce and improving technology for industry. Departments participating in the program include humanities, sociology, business administration, design, law, culture, as well as technology, natural science, and life science. In 2012, the first year of the project, LINC has encompassed 355,941 students and 8,435 professors in 1,639 departments.
DSU has suggested developing cooperation between industry and education in a manner much like an ecosystem. According to this analogy, universities function as suppliers of manpower and technology to businesses that provide financing and support. Through the LINC project, DSU hopes to achieve its visions and goals of successful cooperation between education and industry. One such example involves plans to develop the Centum Industrial Estate Campus. Another involves the university’s work in developing talented graduates in the field of culture-IT fusion services. A final example involves the establishment of a newly created service platform of open information to support systematic cooperation between industry and education.
According to President Chang Jekuk, “DSU was selected as one of the universities of the LINC project and I am very proud of this accomplishment. DSU will be exceptionally equipped to foster the human resources needed by industry, partly due to the government’s pledge of annual funding for the next five years.”