On September 28, the School of Electrical Engineering (EE) has officially announced its initiative, ambitiously titled “EE Co-op” program at the school building (E3-2) at 7 p.m. EE Co-op is the school’s revamped, skill-set- oriented internship program. Professor Yong Hoon Lee outlined the specifics of the implementation at the EE Co- op Information Session attended by fifty undergraduate students, as well as Professors Jaekyun Moon, Jeongseok Ha, Seunghyup Yoo, and Yung Yi, whose collective efforts made the initiative possible.
During the EE Co-op program briefing, Professor Lee repeatedly stressed that the program will demand detailed job descriptions from prospective firms so that EE students would not be left idle at the workplace. Students participating in the program would be able to earn up to nine credits for the six-month on-site internship experience at various middle- sized firms. Successful reapplicants can even take part in the program for a second time, which will grant them up to three credits.
Furthermore, academic requirements are currently, or are planned to be, made more flexible. Discussion is underway for a possible exemption of the major required laboratory course EE405 for EE Co-op participants, and a number of major required courses are scheduled to be open in summer and winter semesters to resolve worries about delayed graduation, should students choose to spend six months for vocational experience.
When asked about what kind of skills the participating firms are seeking, Professor Lee answered that 15 firms across the nation have already contacted the school and there are slightly more hardware-oriented firms than there are software-oriented firms, each of sizes between 80 and 500 employees. He also noted that a common requirement these days is expertise in — and experience with — embedded systems. To a question about the pay and accommodation, he responded saying that a monthly salary of two million KRW is the current scheme and that a possible provision of accommodation from the employer may mean a slightly lower salary. Also, the pay would come directly from the employer and not as a subsidy from the government, such that the employers would be more committed to offer a meaningful job experience to students.
A detailed application timeline is yet to be released, but until then, further inquiries should be addressed to yohlee@ kaist.ac.kr or warum@kaist.ac.kr.