From 2022, the University of Seoul (UOS) will operate a specialized graduate school for chemical substance safety management as part of the Ministry of Environment’s “Chemical Substance Safety Management Professional Training Project.” With government funding of about 1.3 billion KRW, UOS plans to nurture convergence experts specializing in “big data-based smart” chemical substance safety management from 2022 to 2026. The UOS Times obtained information about this specialized graduate school and the domestic and foreign chemical control acts with the help of Professor Choi Jin-hee of the Department of Environmental Engineering.
The specialized graduate school for chemical substance safety management will be run by a consortium comprising the Department of Environmental Engineering, the Department of Applied Chemistry, and the Department of Artificial Intelligence. A convergence education system will be operated through subjects from various fields, such as environmental toxicity, applied chemistry, artificial intelligence, and big data. This educational system will cultivate chemical substance safety management specialists with multidisciplinary convergence capabilities.
The specialized graduate school will be established as a single track in each of the graduate schools of the departments that form the consortium. Therefore, students can apply to this specialized graduate school through one of the three graduate schools. Students who complete the required courses and extracurricular programs, regardless of which of the three departments they apply to, will be credited for completing the specialized graduate school.
In addition to the regular curriculum, the specialized graduate school intends to offer non-regular courses and programs in collaboration with other institutions to enable students to conduct research and improve their expertise. First, the research-linked educational program will provide students with an opportunity to conduct cutting-edge research, such as “environmental disease prediction research”, being conducted at the UOS Chemicals Big Data Research Center. Second, consortium participating companies, such as IT solution companies and chemical GLP research institutes, will provide on-site education and internship opportunities to students.
Chemical incidents in South Korea, such as humidifier disinfectant case, hydrofluoric acid gas leak accident in Gumi, and detection of harmful substances in sanitary pads, prompted the legislation of the three Chemical Substances Acts, as described in the picture below. Overseas, the EU enforces REACH and RoHS, and U.S. enforces the TSCA to regulate chemical substances. As domestic and international chemical substance regulations are strengthened, training experts in chemical substance regulation and international chemical regulation responses is critical.
The purpose of these chemical regulations is protection against the effect of chemical substances that have not been adequately verified. However, owing to the short history of chemical regulation, there is a dearth of experts in the field. Against this backdrop, the Ministry of Environment places a premium on nurturing experts by establishing graduate schools specializing in chemical safety management at universities. Furthermore, in April 2021, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced that it would invest a total of 59.1 billion KRW over the next five years to support small and medium enterprises in managing chemical substances and building eco-friendly management infrastructure. In conclusion, by establishing the specialized graduate school, UOS will be able to nurture convergence talents that the government and industry require in accordance with the trend of chemical substance regulation.
Professor Choi Jin-hee said, “The social demand for a safe society will grow increasingly from now on. The specialized graduate school for chemical substance safety management will train chemical substance experts through convergence education that reflects global trends. We welcome passionate applicants who are interested in chemical management and who have studied in a variety of faculties.” The first applications for the first semester of 2022 at UOS Graduate School will be accepted from October 20 to October 25, and there will be a second application period. Readers interested in learning more about the specialized graduate school can visit the UOS Graduate School website.