‘The UNIST Coop program (Co-operative Education Program), also known as Work Integrated Learning, hereinafter ‘Coop’ is a long-term paid internship, where students earn a salary as they work with professionals in their fields of study. The program features real-world employers offering full-time paid positions to current students, who alternate semesters between the co-op and their normal class schedules. The program consists of 2 months of pre-training in a laboratory, in addition to 6 months of hands-on work, during which they develop into practical talents equipped with business knowledge and problem-solving capability. Students who complete more than twenty-four weeks of field training can receive up to nine credits toward their degree and obtain field training expenses of KRW 2 million or more per month.
The most outstanding feature of the ‘Coop’ is the way it connects companies with students’ majors. When deciding which companies should participate in the program, the U Education Innovation Office matches students’ majors with corporate needs after verifying the requirements of the internships. Usually, applicants apply for the desired jobs in accordance with the requirements for each job position as defined by the companies looking for interns. However, the ‘Coop’ confirms which majors are required through prior coordination with the participating companies first of all, and accepts applications from only those majors.
In addition, each student must attend an interview with an assigned professor as a pre-procedure for applying for an internship, during which the professor review the student’s job compatibility, attitude, personality and so on. Then, after undergoing personality and aptitude tests, and a corporate interview, the applicant’s employment will be decided. A mutual synergy effect can be expected from the Coop program as companies can employ qualified talents from the school, while the school can provide successful employment opportunities for talents by matching them with corporations.
As the program is basically designed to provide students with employment opportunities and on-the-job experience, the U Education Innovation Office supports students throughout the entire program from the briefing session to the internship. Recently, the Office also conducted programs such as one-to-one mentoring between junior and senior students, and experts’ lectures on job interviews, in order to improve students’ career and interview skills.

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Supporting students to the hilt through on-site inspection

Operated each semester (twice a year), the ‘Coop’ follows up the students after matching them with a company and provides them with support so that they can complete their internship successfully. The program organizes on-site visits during the internship period to observe the students’ working environment and listen to company feedback. In particular, whenever students have problems or difficulties, we help them to find a solution based on interviews and conversations with their mentors or professors.
Above all, the companies’ response has been very positive because they see this program as an opportunity to recruit talented people from a science and technology institute as interns, and the applicants are selected based on the results of interviews with their professor and basic aptitude and personality tests. So far, the attitude and adaptability of the students who have participated in the internship program have received good reviews, so more companies wish to continue participating in the program.
The participating students have also expressed satisfaction with the ‘Coop’, strongly recommending it to others. A student named Kim from the Industrial Engineering Department, who participated in the internship at the CJ OliveNetworks’ AI Center in the second semester of 2022, said that the program had been very useful for thinking about his career, saying, “I was at a crossroads between getting a job and going to graduate school, so on-the-job experience was very meaningful for me because it allowed me to define the clear goal of entering a graduate school and acquiring expertise. Meanwhile, a student from the Electrical and Electronic Engineering Dept., who had an internship at LG Innotek’s R&D Division, said that the program had provided an opportunity to sound out various possibilities: “During the Coop program, I got an idea in my head about the kind of work I wanted to do rather than where I wanted to work. It was a rewarding time as I was able to experience and learn things that I didn’t know before, and consequently felt a strong sense of accomplishment.”
We plan to develop the ‘Coop’ so as to allow more companies and various majors to participate in it, and to enable professors-students-companies-centers to communicate organically.

Park Ju-ho, third-year student, Mechanical Engineering Department

How did you come to participate in the UNIST Coop program?

A. __ I found out that there was a briefing session about the program via the news e-mail sent by the school. As I was entering my third year at school, I was naturally concerned about and preparing for employment, so I was interested in it. After the briefing session, I found a company that could be connected to my major, so I applied for it.

You joined LG Innotek as an intern. How was your first experience of corporate life?

A. __ My internship was determined by a series of processes including an interview with my professor, aptitude and personality tests, and a corporate interview. Before going to work for the first time, I had high expectations and strange feelings about the corporate life that I was yet to experience. When I received my employee ID on the first day, I said to myself: ‘Ah, it’s the start!’. After that, I received some basic training and was assigned to the production technology division. At first, I followed my senior colleagues diligently for a while. I could only do simple duties and assistance, but it was nice to be able to experience directly how the job process works in the division.

After the end of the six-month internship, you were offered full-time employment. How do you feel about it?

A. __ At first, I worked with the mindset of ‘Don’t make a mistake at least,’ but the more I got used to company life, the more I wanted to do my job better. I did my best in the area that I could work in, and tried very hard to work with the utmost sincerity. I think that maybe the company recognized that side of me. I will do my best to develop my capabilities so that I can stand out in my duties in the future.

Please tell us how you feel about participating in the UNIST Coop Program and what your future goals are.

A. __ When preparing for employment, it is of course important to obtain a qualification or increase your academic grades, but I think it is also essential to acquire on-the-job experience to find out whether the job is right for you or not, because during the internship I was able to experience many things that I couldn’t learn at school. If you are looking for a job, I would strongly recommend that you participate in the Coop program. I think there is a huge difference between just imagining it and experiencing it for yourself. I also had a great experience thanks to the Coop program, which helped me to make an early decision about my career. Based on this experience, I will continue striving to grow into a better, more talented person.