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Busan Metropolitan City and Microsoft Produce Second Cohort of Data Center Academy Graduates, Connecting Participants to Global Company Internships

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Busan Metropolitan City, led by Mayor Chun Jae-soo, announced that it held a graduation ceremony for the second cohort of the Microsoft Data Center Academy (MS DCA), jointly operated with global IT company Microsoft (MS), at 11:00 a.m. yesterday, September 16, in the MS DCA Lab on the 13th floor of the Cloud Innovation Center in Haeundae-gu.

The ceremony was attended by the 35 participants in the second cohort, as well as representatives from Busan Metropolitan City, Microsoft, the Korean Foundation for Quality, and the Busan IT Industry Promotion Agency.

The Microsoft Data Center Academy is a practice-oriented training program designed to develop skilled professionals for the data center sector. In this year’s second cohort, a total of 35 participants completed approximately three months of training, including 15 in the server and network field and 20 in critical environment operations.

In particular, this year the program fully introduced hands-on training using the Microsoft Data Center Academy (MS DCA) Lab, which opened in April, enabling participants to experience a data center operating environment firsthand and strengthen their practical capabilities.

The Microsoft Data Center Academy (MS DCA) Lab is a training facility that simulates a data center infrastructure operating environment. It was established at the Centum Campus of Kyungnam College of Information & Technology to enable participants to carry out projects focused on real-world operations, including server operation, network configuration, and cloud management.

Among the graduates of the second cohort, 14 will participate in on-site internships at the Microsoft data center in Busan beginning in early November.

The internships will last three months for participants in the server and network field and eight months for those in critical environment operations, giving them practical, job-related experience at the Microsoft data center.

Busan Metropolitan City has operated the first cohort of the Microsoft Data Center Academy (MS DCA) in cooperation with Microsoft since October last year, producing 28 graduates through a total of 417 hours of practical training.

Of these, six outstanding participants were selected for on-site internships at the Microsoft data center in Busan and gained three months of practical experience beginning in February 2026. One of them subsequently secured full-time employment.

Building on its experience operating the first cohort, the City opened the Microsoft Data Center Academy (MS DCA) Lab in April this year and has begun fully implementing a step-by-step talent development model that progresses from training to project work, internships, and employment.

The City also plans to recruit participants for the third cohort of the Microsoft Data Center Academy in the first half of next year, continuing its efforts to develop skilled professionals for the data center sector.

Meanwhile, following 28 graduates from the first cohort, 35 young participants completed the second cohort of the Microsoft Data Center Academy (MS DCA), further expanding the scale of professional workforce development for the data center sector. The second cohort also broadened the scope of training to include critical environment operations, strengthening efforts to cultivate professionals needed across the data center industry.

Tianji Dickens, Microsoft’s Asia-Pacific Director of Community Affairs, said, “Microsoft will continue to actively support young people in Busan so that they can grow into highly skilled data center professionals capable of succeeding on the global stage through internships and hands-on experience with a global company.”

Kim Dong-hyun, Director General of the Future Technology Strategy Bureau at Busan Metropolitan City, said, “Through our cooperation with Microsoft, a global company, we will provide high-quality job opportunities for young people in Busan and lay the foundation for Busan to emerge as a data center hub in Northeast Asia.”

He added, “We will continue to build a digital employment ecosystem where young people can settle and work in Busan by creating a virtuous cycle in which on-site internships lead to full-time employment.”