KS's Global Insights into Higher Education

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...

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 pop...