Korea is emerging as the "land of opportunity" for many foreign students. The number of foreign students enrolled in Korean universities stood at 75,000 as of 2009, up by 19 percent year on year.
This is a four-fold increase from a mere 17,000 in 2004 when the government began keeping records. Korea can expect many positive effects from attracting foreign students including the cultivation of excellent human resources overseas, creation of economic value added and nurturing of Korea-friendly leaders of foreign countries.
Korea, the 15th largest economy in the world, joined the Development Assistance Committee last year, making it the first country in the world to turn itself from a recipient to a donor of assistance, and it is being recognized by the World Nuclear Association as the world's fifth largest exporter of nuclear power plants.
On top of that, Korea has shown the fastest recovery from the global financial crisis among OECD countries and has recently been selected to host and chair the 5th G20 Summit, verifying its elevated national status. The G20 meeting is scheduled for November.
Considering such an improvement in Korea's standing, it is no wonder that more and more foreign students are turning their eyes to Korea as the destination for their studies.
They see the driving force behind the remarkable growth of Korea, a country with a small land and scarce natural resources, as its outstanding human resources.
This has been attributable to the combination of national human resource management skills and the educational zeal of Korean parents for their children.
It is clear that the education in Korea has been drawing attention from the international community to the extent that President Obama praised it many times while emphasizing the importance of educational reform in the United States.
Against this backdrop, topics to be addressed in depth at this time are the overall review of foreign student policies, implementation of these policies and relevant future plans.
Study Korea Project
The government turned its attention to the policies for foreign students starting in 2001, when it came up with the comprehensive measures to attract foreign students. This marked a significant move for the government as it was the first government-level policy for foreign students in Korea.
However, it was in 2004 when the government started to implement those policies on foreign students in earnest with the launch of the Study Korea Project.
The initial goal was to attract 50,000 foreign students to Korea by 2010 with a view to position Korea as the education hub of Northeast Asia through the proactive development and utilization of foreign human resources.
Subsequently, the concrete action plan (April 2005) and improvement measures (December 2005) for the Study Korea Project were devised.
The number of foreign students studying in Korea soared to around 50,000 in 2007, reaching the target number of students for 2010 earlier than originally planned. Accordingly, the target number was adjusted upward, and the outline for attracting foreign students was redesigned, which ultimately led to the formulation of the Development Plan for the Study Korea Project in 2008.
The government set a new goal to attract up to 100,000 foreign students by 2012 by undertaking policy tasks such as accommodating more foreign students into dormitories and extending medical insurance support for foreign students, as well as helping them locate employment opportunities.
from quantity to quality
The number of foreign students studying in Korea jumped from 49,270 in 2007 to 75,000 in 2009 with the number expected to reach 80,000 in 2010, bolstered by government's bolder policies to bring in foreign students riding on the wave of ever-rising Korea's position in the international community.
However, despite the influx of foreign students, questions have been raised on whether excellent foreign students come to Korea to study or whether they are successfully adapting to the study environments in Korea to achieve their goals.
In order to address these matters, the government restricted the issuance of visas or issued a corrective order for universities that had poor management or support for foreign students in 2009.
In addition, the government announced the plan, Improved Support and Management for Foreign Students in an effort to attract competent foreign students and build the capacity of universities of Korea, and redesigned the Korean Government Scholarship Program into the Global Korea Scholarship (GKS) that could be compared to the Fulbright Grant Program of the United States. Such efforts marked the shift of focus in Korea’s national policies on foreign students from the quantitative expansion to the qualitative improvement.
Global Korea Scholarship
Global Korea Scholarship (GKS) is one of the flagship scholarship programs of the government. For 2010 alone, up to KRW 51.5 billion won was allocated to support 2,100 new scholarship students under the GKS.
The program was designed to combine the two existing programs, the Korean Government Scholarship program and the Government Scholarship for Korean Students' Overseas Studies, and to provide new support programs (financial support for excellent non-scholarship students, study programs for incumbent leaders, etc.) for foreigners who want to study in Korea.
GKS is being recognized as the representative scholarship policy of Korea for several reasons: First, GKS integrated various existing scholarship programs and its scope will continue to be expanded.
Moreover, the government has an organization manage GKS so as to provide practical benefits for foreign students studying in Korea. GKS encompasses not only long-term degree courses (Korean government scholarship program) but also short-term exchange or training programs (for excellent exchange students or non-scholarship students, etc.) as well as study programs for incumbent leaders including high-ranking public officials and professors from overseas countries.
Second, GKS selects outstanding foreign students through recommendations from overseas Korean missions or universities. Under the GKS program, the government has a council of universities provide counseling and mentoring services for the grantees to make sure that they complete their study successfully in Korea.
Third, GKS includes a supportive program for the grantees which lasts after they go back to their home countries. This program is mainly about building a global human network, forging alumni associations by each nationality of the grantees and providing grantees with up-to-date information on Korea. In doing so, GKS is offering the grantees enhanced post-scholarship support.
GKS is expected to contribute not only to the cultivation and utilization of quality human resources overseas by inviting outstanding foreign scholarship students to Korea but also to the establishment of a Korea-friendly global human network down the road.
Living environments for foreign students
The most important factor considered by foreign students in determining the destination of their studies is the environment of the country's universities. In an effort to enhance the capabilities of Korean universities in line with the launch of the Study Korea Project, the government has continued to provide support in opening English-only lectures and Korean language courses in universities from 2005 to 2009.
Thirteen universities were selected as the beneficiaries of the support in 2005, nine in 2006, eight in 2007, 27 in 2008 and 14 in 2009. This turns out to have been very helpful to the foreign students who lack Korean language proficiency or those who are proficient in English. It helped to attract foreign students from diverse nationalities.
In addition, the "Manual for Administrative Management of Overseas Students Studying in Korea for Degree or Language Study" is expected to further expedite the administrative work related to foreign students, considering that it requires universities to designate at least one employee to manage over 50 foreign students and newly establish an organization to deal with over 200 foreign students.
Furthermore, the Manual specifies the rule to give priority to foreign students in terms of dorm room assignment to help reduce their economic burden.
study programs in Korea
The government has also taken steps to promote study programs in Korea. The 'Study in Korea Fairs' are held in eight to ten cities annually in Korea, and Korean universities participate in international education fairs in other countries to attract more overseas students.
The government launched the webpage (www.studyinkorea.go.kr) in December 2002 to provide information on studying in Korea and to promote Korea as one of the most sought-after countries for foreign students. The website has constantly been upgraded since its opening.
For instance, the information on the website was offered only in Korean and English in its initial stage, but now content including information on universities is offered in eleven languages including English, Japanese, Chinese, Russian, Vietnamese, Mongolian, Spanish, Turkish, Arabic and French. It was estimated that a total of over 350,000 people across the world have accessed the website.
The government plans to further diversify the places where the Study in Korea Fair is held and to improve the website to enable foreign students to have easier access to the information on studying in Korea.
Korean language and culture
Currently the size of population using Korean language ranks 13th in the world, and the Korean wave, which refers to the trend of the growing popularity of Korean culture in overseas countries, is spreading beyond Asia to reach the Middle East, Europe and Africa.
There is no doubt that the increasing use of the Korean language and the Korean wave contributed to improving the brand value of the study programs in Korea.
For this reason, the government is supporting the establishment of the departments of Korean studies or language in overseas universities and operation of Korean language classes in 628 primary and secondary schools in 15 countries as part of efforts to increase the use of Korean language in the world.
Particular focus is being placed on nurturing quality teachers as well as developing textbooks and a standard curriculum for education of Korean language in overseas countries.
The Test of Proficiency in Korean (TOPIK) was developed as a barometer in foreigners' proficiency of the Korean language.
The number of foreigners taking the TOPIK rose recently from 2,274 in four countries in 1997 to a whopping 170,507 in 36 countries in 2009.
This is expected to increase thanks to the expansion of the use of Korean language and the Korean wave.
Change in the direction of policies on foreign students: to attract excellent foreign students and diversify their nationalities
In today's globalized era of limitless competition, securing outstanding human resources is a key to sustaining the national growth and to acquiring the competitive edge.
In this context, it is time for Korea to overhaul its policies on studying in Korea with the goal of attracting excellent foreign students and diversifying the nationalities of incoming students to Korea.
The government plans to achieve this goal by creating a milieu favorable for foreign students to study, which will help further enhance the status of Korea in the global community.
future prospects
Compared to Japan or Australia that have gone through trials and errors in their investment in programs for foreign students over the past twenty years, Korea has put forth the policies for foreign students in a shorter span of time.
Korea has made the remarkable achievement in less than 10 years.
Thus far, Korea managed to position itself as the hub of Northeast Asia in nurturing the next-generation of leaders in countries across the globe.
By the time foreign students finishing their studies in Korea, assume leadership positions in their respective countries, however, Korea will be able to take the central role on the global stage in education.
Program for foreign students
▪ The global Korea Scholarship GKS, Korean government's flagship scholarship program, by integrating the Government Scholarship Program and the Government Scholarship for Korean Students' Overseas Studies and by providing new programs such as financial support for excellent non-scholarship students, study programs for incumbent leaders, etc.
▪ To Improving the study & living environments in Korea, support is being provided for Korean language courses, English-only lectures and dormitories for foreign students, and inconveniences in terms of visa or insurance are being removed.
▪ Korea Promotes study programs in Korea, education fairs in Korea and in overseas countries are utilized, and the online system (www.studyinkorea.go.kr) is operated to provide guidance on studying in Korea
▪ The government supports the establishment of Korean studies departments in overseas universities, the development of textbooks and teachers in that field and theutilization of TOPIK. |
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