Prof. Jongchul Lee and Chae Jong-hee of KU's Department of Electronic Engineering received the Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Education Award in 2023 for their contributions to fostering core human resources through the Innovation Convergence University in High-tech Fields project. 

On May 4 (Thursday), Kookmin University was selected as the host university for the "Next Generation Communication" category of the "Innovation Convergence University in High-tech Fields" project announced by the Ministry of Education. The project is a program that enables the Ministry of Education to break down the boundaries between universities, crossing the barriers between departments and allowing students to take courses in high-tech fields regardless of their major. Five consortiums of local governments and regional universities were selected in high-tech fields such as next-generation communication, aviation and drones, semiconductor sub-division, secondary battery, and eco-industry. 

Kookmin University has formed a consortium with four universities, Seoul National University, Ulsan National University of Science and Technology, Chonnam National University, and Korea Aerospace University, and Gwangju Metropolitan City as the local government, and is leading the project as the lead university in the field of next-generation communication.  

"In order to foster globally leading innovative talents in the field of quantum security-based next-generation communication, we will prepare a convergence curriculum with advanced applications of next-generation communication use cases such as artificial intelligence, autonomous vehicles, and future mobility, and focus on developing demand-based experience-oriented field courses and problem-solving courses," said Ju Min Chul, deputy director of Kookmin University.  

Meanwhile, the next-generation communication consortium will receive a budget of 10.2 billion won this year to jointly develop and operate the curriculum, and the total project period is four years from 2023 to 2026.