South Korea’s plans to attract 300,000 international students by 2027 will see expanded measures aimed at improving post-graduation work and migration opportunities introduced in 2025.
In 2023, South Korea (Korea) announced its ambitious goal of attracting 300,000 inbound international students by 2027 as part of its Study Korea 300K Project. Study Korea 300K aims to position South Korea among the top 10 global study-abroad destinations by 2027.
As of March 2023, Korea had 205,170 international students, representing a +23% increase from 2022. Vietnam, China and Uzbekistan are the three largest source markets for Korea, with Chinese students accounting for 40% of the international student population, and Vietnamese students representing 23% of Korea’s international student population.
Measures already introduced by the Korean government to facilitate Korea’s 300K goal include:
- Increasing the part time work allowance for undergraduate students from 20 hours per week to 25 hours per week. Postgraduate students are permitted to work 35 hours per week on weekdays. International students are allowed to work unlimited hours on weekends and holidays.
- Lowering the financial threshold from US$20,000 to US$15,400 for students applying for a study visa.
New measures to be introduced include:
- From 2025, international students will be able to stay in South Korea for up to 3 years to look for a job after completing their studies. Currently, students are only permitted to stay for 6 months, with a possible extension up to 2 years.
- Expanding the types of jobs that international students can apply for.
- An increase in the number of scholarships available under the Global Korea Scholarship programme.
- Fast-tracking STEM graduates for permanent residency.
- A controversial proposal to lower language proficiency requirements for international students which has raised concerns that universities will face significant financial burdens as a result of having to provide additional student support.
However, some doubt whether Korea will be able to achieve its ambitious target. For starters, Korea is competing against Japan and Malaysia, which also have ambitious plans to increase international student numbers. Korean academics have also expressed concern that Korea lacks the infrastructure and expertise to provide support to large numbers of international students. They have also said that curriculum changes are required to ensure that higher education is truly global. According to some academics, without the appropriate curriculum and support, Korea risks quality of education provision and damage to its reputation.
ICEF Monitor reports that although the government plans to ease post-graduate work restrictions for international students, and students may come to Korea with high hopes of working post-graduation, the reality of finding work in a labour market that has little experience working with foreign workers is quite different. Korean student magazine, The Granite Tower similarly notes:
This plan includes various measures to attract foreign students, such as the relaxation of visa issuance requirements, an increase in Global Korea Scholarship (GKS) slots, and an increase in the budget for the postgraduate Brain Korea (BK) project, but the reality for international students in Korea is generally not considered. This is a concern because Korea is generally a culturally homogeneous nation with no history of cultural diversity, thus the mass recruitment of international students can lead to conflict between expectations and reality for the students, while Korean institutions may not recognize the needs of these students. In addition, as reported by The Korea Herald in 2021, visas and job opportunities after graduation are limited for international students in Korea; of the 1,611 foreign graduates from Korean universities, the Ministry of Labor reported that only 257 were hired by a company in Korea, while another 193 left Korea. The situation for the remaining 60 percent of graduates remains unknown to the authorities.
Despite these challenges, Korea may soon see a spike in the number of Indian students studying in Korea. The Times of India reports that Korea is working to attract more Indian students to Korea, and Korean language studies have been recently introduced into Indian secondary schools under India’s National Education Plan 2020. According to the Times of India, Indians proficient in Korean are in demand in the technology and automotive companies in Korea, and a number of Korean universities have signed MOUs with Indian universities to encourage greater academic and student exchange between the two countries.
