"Working as a BMW Designer in Germany Right After Graduating from University"

Korea Institute of Design Promotion, Practical Talent Development
'Korea Design Membership Plus'
Industry-Academia Project... BMW Internship Recruitment
70 Prospective Designers Currently Selected

The design work presented by the team including Mr. Baehyeongseong in the industry-academia project with BMW
[Photo by Korea Institute of Design Promotion]

"It was a turning point in my life. I wonder if I could have challenged a big company like BMW if I had only participated in school activities."

Bae Hyungseong, who graduated this year from the Department of Industrial Design at Konkuk University, has been working as an intern at BMW headquarters in Munich, Germany since last month. In this difficult time for youth employment, he has gained a special opportunity to work as a product designer at a global automobile company.

Bae succeeded in joining BMW as an intern after participating in the ‘Korea Design Membership Plus Project’ organized by the Korea Institute of Design Promotion last year. This was thanks to his excellent performance in the industry-academia cooperation project with BMW included in the program. A total of three people from the same team, including Park Sooyoung (Dankook University) and Kang Hyomin (Seoul National University of Science and Technology), were hired and are currently working on-site in Germany. After six months of internship, the decision on official employment will be made.

Bae said, "I realized that ‘such an opportunity is given to me as well’" and added, "I think the efforts and experiences I accumulated over six years of studying design have shone through."

Participants of the Korea Design Membership Plus project are taking a commemorative photo at the industry-academia project performance presentation held with BMW last December.
[Photo by Korea Institute of Design Promotion]

Since 2007, the Korea Institute of Design Promotion has been connecting design major students with leading domestic and international companies and mentors, together with metropolitan area design centers operated by local governments. The goal is to nurture practical designers who can be immediately deployed in the field and further realize their dreams of overseas employment. Originally, the program was targeted at university students outside the metropolitan area, but since last year, the program name was appended with ‘Plus’ to include the metropolitan area and expand eligibility to unemployed graduates within one year of graduation.

This program operates various educational programs and field training. Last year, a meeting was held with domestic and international designer mentors to share opinions on the qualities and competencies required by actual companies. One outstanding work from the industry-academia cooperation project conducted with LG Household & Health Care, a cosmetic container design, is scheduled to be released in the first half of this year under the brand name ‘Suryuhan’.

An official from the Korea Institute of Design Promotion explained, "So far, about 600 people have participated in this program, and the average employment and start-up rate is 74.4%," adding, "Through product commercialization full-cycle experiential education, 40 products have been finally mass-produced over the past five years." This year, the Design Promotion Institute will select about 70 prospective designers to carry out projects with companies.