KOTRA "FTA Process, Vocational High School Export Companies Employment Rate Increases by Over 20%P"

'Employment-Linked FTA Practical Workforce Training Project'
542 Graduates Produced from 2019 to Present

[Asia Economy Reporter Moon Chaeseok] The employment rate of vocational high school students participating in KOTRA's "Employment-Linked Free Trade Agreement (FTA) Practical Workforce Training Project," which has been conducted with the government for four years, was found to be more than 20 percentage points higher than the average.

On the 11th, KOTRA announced that it held the 2022 completion ceremony for the project, which has been ongoing for four years with the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, the previous day at KOTRA headquarters in Yeomgok-dong, Seocho-gu, Seoul.

KOTRA has been conducting the project targeting students from specialized high schools and Meister high schools. This year, 150 third-year students from 10 vocational high schools nationwide received certificates. Apart from the regular high school curriculum, they received practical export company training on FTA utilization, rules of origin, online marketing, and more.

The participating students also competed in a "Mock Trade Practical Competition" held on the same day. The practical competition is the final stage of the training project, where students directly discover exportable daily and gift items and are evaluated by five experts from the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, KOTRA, and export companies.

The 10 products discovered by the students were sent to 10 KOTRA overseas regional headquarters to receive local market feasibility reviews. Based on this, the students selected promising export regions and presented on the export potential.

The items advancing to the finals varied, including soap featuring traditional culture imagery, gardening tools, and health shower devices. Among the 10 teams that reached the final round, one team received the Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Award, two teams received the KOTRA President Award, and seven teams received the KOTRA Academy Director Award.

The greatest achievement of the project is employment. According to a KOTRA official, "More than half of the participating students have already been employed by small and medium-sized export companies, public enterprises, and financial institutions," adding, "The export companies that hired them are very satisfied with their capabilities and practical skills, which exceeded expectations."

Thanks to the project, 542 graduates have been produced so far. The employment rate of these graduates has recorded 76-85% annually. This is about 20 percentage points higher than the average employment rate of vocational high schools, which is 50-56%.

Ryu Jaewon, head of KOTRA's Trade and Investment Data Division, said, "The employment-linked education program specialized for specialized and Meister high school courses is producing results beyond expectations day by day," and added, "We will strive to expand it further."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.