On the 13th, Volkswagen Group Korea signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Ministry of Education’s Future Automobile Consortium, the non-profit coding school 42 Wolfsburg in Germany, and the German Embassy in Korea, aimed at strengthening mutual cooperation in training software talents specialized in the automotive sector.
The signing ceremony took place at the German Embassy’s residence, commemorating the 140th anniversary of South Korea-Germany diplomatic relations.
The event was attended by Volkswagen Group Korea CEO Thiel Scheer, German Ambassador to Korea Michael Reifenschneider, and representatives from participating universities in the Future Automobile Consortium, including the heads of Ajou University and Inha University. Im Hong-jae, President of Konkuk University, the lead university of the consortium, Max Senes, Dean and CEO of 42 Wolfsburg, and students from the SEA:ME pilot program also participated, totaling around 50 attendees.
SEA:ME (Software Engineering in Automotive and Mobility Ecosystems) is a master-level curriculum designed to nurture talents equipped with knowledge and creativity to lead the digitalization of automotive technology through programming. The program enables employment preparation in the mobility field within 12 months and consists of three sub-modules: Embedded Systems, Autonomous Driving Systems, and Mobility Ecosystems, each lasting a maximum of six months. Developed as open educational resources, it adopts a peer-learning approach and involves experts from the science and industry sectors as fellows.
Thiel Scheer, CEO of Volkswagen Group Korea, stated, “Automobiles are becoming increasingly digitalized and connected. The headquarters of Volkswagen Group in Germany plans to increase the proportion of self-developed software applied to vehicles produced by the group from the current 10% to 60% by 2025. Achieving this goal requires highly trained software experts.” He added that this MOU is significant in providing capable Korean students with opportunities to engage in challenging automotive-related projects, allowing them to grow into top programmers while interacting with various experts from the relevant German automotive and academic sectors, including Volkswagen Group and its software subsidiary CARIAD.
The SEA:ME program is part of Volkswagen Group Korea’s corporate social responsibility activities. Through this MOU, Volkswagen Group Korea will provide financial support to Konkuk University, which oversees the operations of the educational consortium promoted by the Ministry of Education.
Konkuk University will lead the selection of students for the SEA:ME program and its operation through coordination among the seven universities in the Future Automobile Consortium, based on this financial support. President Im Hong-jae of Konkuk University serves as an honorary fellow of 42 Wolfsburg and Professor Kim Jong-chan from the Department of Automotive IT Convergence develops and operates the software engineering curriculum in collaboration with 42 Wolfsburg as a SEA:ME fellow.
42 Wolfsburg will provide the educational resources necessary for Korean students to complete the SEA:ME curriculum in Germany while also overseeing their participation. Additionally, it will take a leading role in the development of the SEA:ME fellows’ curriculum. The German Embassy in Korea will assist Korean students by providing education to help them seamlessly adapt to life in Germany.
Four students from the first cohort of the SEA:ME pilot program participated in the embedded systems module in Germany for six months. Following the successful operation of the first cohort, ten students from the second cohort will move to Germany in July this year to take part in the SEA:ME program for the next year. Starting this year, a total of 30 university students will participate in the SEA:ME program conducted by 42 Wolfsburg, with ten students joining each year for the next three years.
One of the students from the first cohort, Jeong Mun-kyu from Konkuk University, expressed, “In the beginning, I found it challenging to adapt to the peer learning approach, where knowledge and skills are shared among colleagues. A profound statement that stood out during discussions with friends was that while some people tend to hesitate to share their skills, the more a new technology is shared with others, the more it can develop. I hope to use the experiences and knowledge gained at 42 Wolfsburg as a stepping stone for my growth as an automotive software engineer.”
Volkswagen Group Korea and Konkuk University plan to pilot the SEA:ME @ Korea program within this year, aiming to introduce the program to more university students in Korea. Furthermore, they intend to expand the SEA:ME program to participating universities in the Future Automobile Consortium.
Meanwhile, the German Volkswagen Group and its software subsidiary CARIAD are sponsoring the non-profit coding schools ‘42 Wolfsburg’ and ‘42 Berlin’ to nurture software talents. The 42 Wolfsburg campus, with a capacity of 600 students, opened in May 2021. The group will provide a total of 11 million euros over five years starting from the 2021 operational initiation of the Wolfsburg campus. Recently, with the support of the group and CARIAD, the 42 Berlin campus has also opened.
Lee Sang-jin daedusj@autodiary.kr