[Edaily Kong Chi-Yu Reporter] Although the government provides substantial annual funding to foster AI talent—including through AI graduate programs—it has been revealed that one in three master’s and doctoral graduates from these programs remains unemployed. Critics are calling for a strengthened follow-up support system to ensure that highly skilled graduates can secure positions in the domestic industry after graduation.

According to data obtained on the 26th by the office of Rep. Lee Jeong-heon of the Democratic Party of Korea—a member of the National Assembly’s Science, Technology, Information, Broadcasting, and Communications Committee—from the Ministry of Science and ICT, 379 (35.1%) of the 1,079 master’s and doctoral graduates produced last year through the ministry’s AI talent development programs—including AI graduate schools, AI Convergence Innovation Graduate Schools, and the Generative AI Leading Talent Development Program—were unemployed.

The Ministry of Science and ICT invests tens of billions of won annually in training master’s and doctoral-level talent through programs such as AI graduate schools, and the number of graduates is also increasing. The number of graduates from AI graduate schools has been on an upward trend for three consecutive years, rising from 396 in 2023 to 485 in 2024 and 660 last year. During the same period, the number of graduates from the AI Convergence Innovation Graduate School increased from 130 to 232 and then to 322.

However, it has been found that a significant number of these graduates have been unable to secure positions in the domestic industry and remain unemployed. Last year, the largest group of unemployed graduates consisted of 220 graduates from the AI Graduate School. This was followed by 134 graduates from the AI Convergence Innovation Graduate School and 25 graduates of the Generative AI Leading Talent Training Program.

The issue of AI talent flowing overseas is also becoming more serious. Last year, 47 graduates from the AI Graduate School moved abroad after graduation, more than double the number from the previous year (23). Of these, 20 found employment in the private sector, including at foreign companies, marking a more than six-fold increase over the same period.

Few international students who completed AI talent development programs in Korea chose to settle in the country. Of the 78 international students who earned degrees through AI talent development projects over the past three years—from 2023 through last year—only 21 (26.9%) secured employment at domestic companies. The rest either returned to their home countries or remain unemployed.

Rep. Lee Jeong-heon pointed out, “Although the government has publicly pledged to cultivate world-class AI talent by investing over 210 billion won over the past five years, one out of every three top-tier master’s and doctoral graduates has been unable to find a job in Korea, and the brain drain of key personnel has doubled in just one year.”

Rep. Lee emphasized, “We must not become bogged down in quantitative support that merely focuses on filling quotas by increasing graduate school enrollment and the number of graduates,” adding, “We must completely redesign the system linking job supply and demand and the post-graduation support framework so that the trained top talent can establish themselves in domestic academia and industry and flow into the startup ecosystem.”