High School System Reform Connects to Local Industries Through Talent Development... Seongsan High School to Combine IB and Marine Education, Sarago to Focus on AI Convergence

[Financial News Jeju = Reporter Jeong Yong-bok] The reorganization of Jeju's high school system is expanding from simply changing school types into a structure that develops talent needed by local industries from the educational stage. Seongsan High School is combining the International Baccalaureate (IB) with marine vocational education, while Jeju Girls' Commercial High School will transition into Sarago High School in 2027 to strengthen AI- and information-based creative convergence education.
According to the Jeju Special Self-Governing Provincial Office of Education on the 12th, the office newly designated two schools—Seongsan High School and Jeju Girls' Commercial High School, which will transition into Sarago High School in 2027—as Jeju-type autonomous schools for the 2027 academic year.
Jeju-type autonomous schools can design subjects and programs tailored to the characteristics of each school and region by utilizing the autonomy in curriculum operation granted under the Jeju Special Act. The Jeju Special Self-Governing Provincial Office of Education provides support for curriculum development and operation, customized counseling, teacher training, and operating expenses.
The school drawing particular attention in this designation is Seongsan High School. The Jeju Special Self-Governing Provincial Office of Education plans to reorganize it into a future-oriented high school that operates both IB education and a marine vocational track. The general-education track will apply an IB-based curriculum to enhance the competitiveness of general education, while the marine vocational track will focus on cultivating specialized personnel linked to Jeju's strategic industries.
The fields identified by the Jeju Special Self-Governing Provincial Office of Education are marine affairs, fisheries, and tourism. The aim is to create a curriculum that enables students to enter Jeju's regional industries after acquiring specialized knowledge and practical skills at school.
The transformation of Seongsan High School is also unusual in that the education policy of expanding IB and the restructuring of vocational education are being pursued simultaneously within a single school.
At present, high schools operating the IB Diploma Programme in Jeju are concentrated at Pyoseon High School. The Jeju Special Self-Governing Provincial Office of Education plans to distribute demand by introducing IB at Seongsan High School and establish the Seongsan area as an IB education hub linking elementary, middle, and high schools.
At the same time, the existing foundation for marine education will not be eliminated but redesigned to reflect industrial changes. Rather than abandoning either the transition to a general-education track or specialized functions, the school will maintain both educational pillars.

This development is also closely connected to the restructuring of the marine industry, which has recently become the subject of active discussion in Jeju.
The Jeju National University Glocal University Project Group, Jeju National University (JNU), Jeju Province, the Ministry of Education, and the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) held the 'Strategy Forum for Establishing a Jeju-style Marine MRO Ecosystem' on August 28. Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul (MRO) is an industry encompassing the maintenance, repair, overhaul, and operation of ships and equipment. Unlike shipbuilding, which involves constructing new vessels, it industrializes the recurring demand for maintenance and modification after vessels enter service.
Researchers from the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) and Jeju National University (JNU), along with Daeshik Kim, an executive director at Hanwha Ocean, participated in the forum to discuss the Jeju-style MRO industry, the role of companies, and strategies for fostering talent through industry-academia-research collaboration.
In particular, the talent-development direction for Jeju-style MRO presented by Jeju National University (JNU) clearly illustrates the job functions required by the industry. Hanwha Ocean divided its main recruitment areas into design, quality, and project management; maintenance, repair, and operations; and special-vessel research and development. Related majors included naval architecture, marine engineering, and mechanical engineering; electrical, electronic, and control engineering; computer engineering; new materials, materials, and chemical engineering; safety engineering; and business administration.
This means that ship MRO is evolving beyond traditional mechanical maintenance into an industry encompassing electrical and electronic engineering, automation, big data, digital twins, AI, and eco-friendly ship technologies. Educational models have also been developed around industry-academia integrated curricula, practical training environments aligned with international MRO standards, hands-on education applying technological solutions to corporate worksites, and joint research.
The reorganization of Seongsan High School's marine vocational track should not be immediately interpreted as specialized marine MRO education. The Jeju Special Self-Governing Provincial Office of Education has presented only the broad direction of cultivating talent in the marine, fisheries, and tourism sectors; it has not yet finalized the establishment of an MRO department or an educational agreement with Hanwha Ocean.
However, as Jeju is developing marine MRO as a candidate future industry and universities and companies have begun discussing the necessary job functions and educational models, the restructuring of marine vocational education at Seongsan High School could become the starting point for a future talent-development system linking high schools, universities, and companies.
Building a genuine industrial ecosystem requires not only attracting companies and establishing facilities but also an educational foundation capable of continuously supplying skilled workers to the region. A pathway must be established from high school to university and specialized education, and then to corporate field training, so that it can lead to young people's local employment and settlement.

Sarago High School represents a different model of high school reorganization. Jeju Girls' Commercial High School will transition into Sarago High School, a general high school, in 2027. Using the existing infrastructure of the AI-focused school and its digital curriculum, it will operate a creative convergence school connecting the humanities, social sciences, natural sciences, and the arts.
A new 'Thematic Inquiry Project' will be established using the special curriculum provisions of the Jeju Special Act, and the curriculum will be organized around seven subjects in the AI and information fields. It will also be linked to a green-smart advanced educational environment and step-by-step career and college-admissions programs.
Although the reorganization plans for Seongsan High School and Sarago High School differ, they share the common goal of connecting school education with the region's future needs.
Seongsan High School combines the marine industry with IB, while Sarago High School emphasizes AI and creative convergence capabilities. Rather than repeating the same curriculum at every school, this structure gives each school a distinct role suited to regional conditions, students' career paths, and industrial changes.
The success or failure of Jeju's high school system reform is expected to depend not on changes to school names or types but on whether the curriculum actually leads to further education and employment.
It will be important to see how specifically the detailed departments, corporate participation, scale of field training, and employment-linkage methods for Seongsan High School's marine vocational track are developed. Connecting the school to Jeju's future industries, including marine MRO, will also require a division of roles among the Jeju Special Self-Governing Provincial Office of Education, universities, companies, and Jeju Province.
Direct educational cooperation between companies, including Hanwha Ocean, and the Jeju Special Self-Governing Provincial Office of Education has not yet been formalized. If discussions take place in the future, key issues will include how extensively companies' required job functions are reflected in the curriculum and how field training is connected to employment.
An official from the Jeju Special Self-Governing Provincial Office of Education said, "For high school system reform to become firmly established in schools, it is important to operate curricula that reflect each school's distinctive characteristics," adding, "We will support Seongsan High School and Sarago High School in implementing their respective educational directions and providing students with diverse learning opportunities."


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