South Korea's Ministry of Science and ICT said on Saturday it will openly recruit fifth-cohort trainees for its Virtual Convergence Technology Academy through March 22.

The academy provides project-based, practical training to foster young talent to lead the artificial intelligence (AI) and virtual convergence industries, and to support employment and startups. It has produced a total of 913 specialists over the past 4 years since 2022. It also won 34 external competitions and produced 181 commercialisation projects.

This year it introduced a dual-track system that separates technical instructors and professional instructors to strengthen on-site support. Technical instructors are responsible for technical implementation for service development and production training. Professional instructors provide close support across the entire process, including generative AI-based convergence projects.

Major courses include core subjects in virtual convergence such as XR (Unreal/Unity), back-end, AI+XR and TA. Anyone aged 18 to 39 who aspires to be a developer or creator can apply. It will select a total of 100 trainees this year.

Selected trainees will first build fundamentals through basic training by major for those without a related background. In the regular course that follows, they will take major training and common courses in parallel, including virtual convergence service planning and special lectures on industry trends, to support growth into intermediate-level or higher experts.

In the convergence project stage, trainees will collaborate with participants from different majors and, under expert guidance, develop generative AI-based virtual convergence services aimed at commercialisation.

Trainees will receive support including a creation space, personal computers and software. After the course ends, the program will provide employment and startup support benefits, including on-site recruitment consulting events with companies, and, for high-performing trainees, an award from the deputy prime minister who is also the science minister, opportunities for corporate job training, and startup consulting.

Nam Cheol-ki (남철기), director general for software policy at the ministry, said, "We will support young people to build practical capabilities through the Virtual Convergence Technology Academy so they can make a big leap as leading players in future new industries."