Cheju Halla University and ESTsoft have been selected as the Jeju regional hub for the Ministry of Employment and Labor’s “AI-Specialized Joint Training Center” program. The announcement came on April 2.

This is a government-funded initiative that leverages infrastructure from leading companies and regional universities to provide free AI training to employees at small and mid-sized enterprises. For Jeju, that means us.

What We’re Building

Over the next three years (2026-2028), we’ll receive approximately 1.5 billion KRW in national funding to build AI training facilities and run the program. The goal is to train 300 or more professionals per year.

Starting in May, we’ll conduct AI readiness assessments for participating Jeju SMEs, diagnose each company’s current state, design tailored AI adoption strategies, and then begin hands-on training.

Training Model

The curriculum is built around Jeju’s strategic industries:

  • Tourism: AI-driven service optimization and customer analytics
  • Smart Agriculture: Precision farming, crop monitoring, yield prediction
  • Marine & Environmental Monitoring: Sensor data analysis, anomaly detection
  • Space & Geospatial Data: Satellite imagery processing, spatial AI applications

The delivery model combines three formats: intensive lectures, residential camps with accommodation, and project-based learning (PBL) where companies bring real business challenges and solve them with AI during the program. PBL is the core differentiator. Companies don’t just learn about AI in the abstract; they walk away with working solutions to their own problems.

Partnership Structure

The roles are clearly divided:

ESTsoft brings its AI technology stack and deploys working engineers as instructors and mentors. The ESTsoft Jeju Campus at the Jeju Science & Technology Park serves as the primary training venue.

Cheju Halla University manages center operations and trainee support, linking the program to RISE (Regional Innovation System & Education) to create a sustainable cycle of locally rooted AI talent development.

Why This Matters

Regional SMEs rarely have the resources to pursue AI adoption on their own. The talent gap, the infrastructure cost, and the uncertainty about where to start all create barriers. A publicly funded, industry-led, university-operated training center removes those barriers.

For Cheju Halla University, this is another piece of a larger picture. Between RISE, our KOICA AI education center in Uzbekistan, and now this joint training center, we’re building AI capacity development programs at every scale, from international to hyperlocal.

The work starts in May.