Skip to main content

Riding the Wave of Change: The Future of International Branch Campuses in Korea

South Korea's role in the global research and literature about international branch campuses (IBCs) has been largely overlooked, despite the country's substantial contributions to student mobility. Initially, Japan was the preferred market for IBCs in East Asia, but now China has taken the lead.

Incheon Global Campus (IGC) was launched in South Korea in 2012, with its founding member being the State University of New York, Korea (SUNY Korea). The IGC was part of a national plan for globalising higher education which focused on two elements: Korean students studying abroad and the addition of international components to Korean higher education.

SUNY Korea was the first American university approved by the Korean government and by 2023, the IGC hosted four IBCs and a research institute from Stanford University, educating almost 4,000 students from 35 different countries.

However, Korea's higher education landscape faces significant challenges due to a declining college-age population and the financial strain on private institutions resulting from political pressure to freeze tuition fees for over a decade. As a result, the Korean government has proposed closing some poorly managed institutions.

The global COVID-19 pandemic has also impacted IBCs, forcing a shift in focus towards in-person or residential learning experiences. Post-pandemic, online education has taken precedence and could potentially replace traditional in-person education. This shift poses a potential threat to the value of IBCs' traditional educational services. To adapt, IBCs need to capitalize on local resources and opportunities to address global needs.

The sustainability of IBCs is a pressing issue, with a focus on improving cost efficiency through collaborations with service providers and platforms, and redesigning cost structures to ensure long-term viability.

In the face of these challenges, several questions arise about the need for IBCs in Korea, their purpose, and whether the initial vision of internationalising higher education through IBCs is still valid today. As the pandemic continues, these questions require urgent answers.

The future of IBCs is uncertain as they navigate the aftermath of the pandemic and the shifting boundaries in higher education brought about by the rise of remote and virtual learning. The American IBC in Korea, for instance, is now at the intersection of major trends, with both nations facing restructuring due to the pandemic. The disruption has created opportunities alongside risks. 

--------------

* Disclaimer

This content is an edited summary of a co-authored article originally published in September 2022 on the University World News. For the original article, please visit https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=20220902163238399.

Labels:
Location: Seoul, South Korea

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Export of Education: Korean Universities' Path to Internationalization in post-COVID World

The COVID-19 pandemic has held sway over the globe for over two years now, yet the fervor of countless experts involved in internationalization at local Korean universities remains undeterred. In January, approximately 230 faculty and staff members from various local universities converged at the 22nd regular general meeting of the Korean Association of International Educators in Jeju. The gathering served as a platform for them to engage in fervent dialogues on innovation and development in international exchange, as well as the management of foreign student recruitment. This could be attributed not only to their concerted efforts toward internationalizing domestic universities, but potentially also to their experience working in American universities operating within Korea. The idea of 'internationalization' has entrenched itself as a top policy priority in our universities for over two decades. Despite apprehensions over rapid quantitative growth and the manifestation of uni...
5 comments
Read more

Beyond Traditional Models: Analyzing Tuition Policy Change with Brand-new Conceptual Framework

The university tuition policy is a critical issue from the perspective of "Who should bear the cost of higher education services?" It's a significant higher education policy intertwined with many societal interests and a political agenda, drawing substantial attention from educational policy authorities and the political realm. Research on university tuition fees has largely focused on the justification and development direction of tuition policies in terms of educational finance, social and historical interpretations, and analysis of tuition fee determination processes. Some previous studies have used the Multiple Streams Framework for policy formation and change analysis, but they generally rely on the traditional Kingdon model, resulting in a superficial description of policy change phenomena.  Efforts have been made to refine and apply these models in educational policy analysis, both domestically and internationally. This study combines the Modified Multiple Streams ...
2 comments
Read more

10 Years of Incheon Global Campus: Achievements, Obstacles, and Future Prospects

In 2012, South Korea initiated a global educational hub called Incheon Global Campus (IGC) as part of government-led efforts to globalize higher education. This article explores the developments at the US campuses in Korea over the past decade. South Korea is globally renowned for its contribution to international student mobility, with roughly 200,000 Korean students enrolled in higher education institutions worldwide in 2020. Notably, the most popular destination was the US, followed by China, Japan, and Canada. However, this student mobility is largely outbound, with the number of Korean students studying abroad significantly outnumbering incoming international students. This has led to a substantial trade deficit in education. In an attempt to balance this situation, the Korean government, inspired by globalisation and international pressures, encouraged educational exchanges by setting up the IGC, inviting prestigious universities to establish campuses in Korea. This initiative ai...
1 comment
Read more