KS's Global Insights into Higher Education

As per the Ministry of Justice's February 2023 report, South Korean universities now host over 200,000 international students. Of these, around 73% or 146,053 are pursuing undergraduate and postgraduate degrees, with the rest engaged in non-degree programs like language studies. This statistic marks a significant, approximately twentyfold surge from the 10,000 international students recorded about twenty years ago. With the target of accommodating 300,000 foreign students and the roll-out of the Study Korea 3.0 strategy, the country is demonstrating a comprehensive commitment to revitalizing its society and economy through international inclusivity. A recent op-ed by a professor from a South Korean research university highlighted the considerable proportion of international students in the engineering research workforce of domestic universities. He posited that their departure would be detrimental to the nation. So, what could persuade them to remain in South Korea? If they were gi...

"Kim underscored the necessity for expanding the countries of origin for foreign students. He noted that significant potential student markets such as South America and India remain largely untapped, thereby necessitating strategic national-level diplomatic initiatives." "Kim shared that, despite a drop from 160,000 in 2019 to 150,000 during the COVID-19 crisis, the number of foreign students has climbed to 210,000 as of this March. The encouraging aspect is the upswing in enrollments in both degree programs and Korean language courses compared to the previous year." "However, he raised concerns over the disproportionate percentage of foreign students originating from just two countries, Vietnam (73,000 students) and China (67,000 students), accounting for 66% of the total. He further compared South Korea's past governmental policies on foreign student recruitment critically with those of Japan, the USA, and Australia, citing smaller investment levels and l...