New 'Graduate Specialized Program' Established... Recruiting 120 Operating Universities This Year

Purpose of Expanding Employment Opportunities for Job-Seeking Youth

The Ministry of Employment and Labor is recruiting newly operating universities (including junior colleges and industrial universities) for this year's graduate specialized program projects, university job plus centers, and customized employment services for high school and university students to help job-seeking youth secure employment capabilities. The recruitment period is from the 7th to the 31st.

The Ministry of Employment plans to establish a graduate specialized program project this year to prevent youth from being 'inactive,' accepting participation applications from all universities nationwide. This is to focus support on the early stages after graduation as difficulties for new graduates have increased due to the recent contraction in the hiring market.

In fact, the European Union (EU) has implemented a 'Youth Guarantee' system that guarantees employment and training opportunities within '4 months after graduation' as the golden time to address the issue of youth giving up on job seeking, which has resulted in lowering youth unemployment rates.

The graduate specialized project, piloted since August last year, consists of one-on-one counseling, document and interview failure consulting, and mentoring by employed seniors, receiving high responses from youth. The scale of participating universities this year is about 120, and these universities plan to guide and encourage all unemployed graduates to use employment support services via phone and text messages.

The Ministry of Employment is also recruiting one new university to operate the 'University Job Plus Center' that provides integrated employment support services to youth within the university, supporting up to 400 million KRW. The total number of operating universities will increase from 121 to 122.

The number of universities operating customized employment services for university students, providing counseling and employment support by academic year, will expand from 50 last year to 60 this year, and the number of universities operating customized employment services for high school students, including vocational high schools and general high schools not pursuing higher education, providing career counseling and planning, will increase from 20 to 30.

Hong Kyung-ui, Director of Youth Employment Policy at the Ministry of Employment, said, "We plan to expand the graduate specialized program not only to the 120 University Job Plus Centers but also to universities without such centers so that youth can receive the help they immediately need," adding, "We will strengthen a seamless customized support system from the enrollment stage through graduation and employment."