Quality worries as Korea edges towards international student goal

Some South Korean institutions are prioritising quantity over quality when it comes to international student recruitment despite attempts by the government to balance growth, according to academics in the country.

More universities have received a government stamp of approval for their work with foreign learners in 2024 as the country edges closer towards its goal of recruiting 300,000 overseas students by 2027.  

The number of universities accredited by IEQAS, a quality assurance system first introduced in 2012, increased by 24 to 158 in total in 2024, according to new government data. Once approved, it is easier for students to secure visas to those institutions and chosen universities are also more likely to receive marketing support from the Study Korea brand. 

New data also shows the number of international students entering the country increased by 27,000 from approximately 182,000 to approximately 209,000 last year. This data includes degree and non-degree students.

Growing international student numbers is seen as a way of supporting the country’s universities and wider economy in the face of demographic decline. However, there have been concerns about the impact of this ambitious target on the quality of education provided to foreign students, as well as about students who break immigration laws, including staying in the country after their visas have expired. 

According to the Ministry of Education, 11 institutions will face stricter visa screening procedures this year after they failed to receive the certification, down from 20 last year. This is based on criteria related to students including language skills and the illegal stay rate, as well as institutional factors such as tuition fee levels. 

When the scheme was first launched, these institutions would have been banned from recruiting international students altogether but, three years ago, the government relaxed the rules so they are now instead subject to enhanced screening measures. 

Although the wording has changed, Kyuseok Kim, a higher education researcher and centre director at IES Abroad Seoul, a study centre for international students, suggested this was not due to a “relaxation” on the part of the government but rather an acknowledgement that there may be exceptional cases where international students are granted visas to study at those institutions. 

However, Kim warned, the surge in new international students “raises concerns about the capacity of institutions to uphold quality standards and manage potential visa overstays”.

“Some institutions, facing dire enrolment shortages, are overextending themselves by admitting far more students than their resources can support; they are certainly swallowing more than they can digest,” he said. 

“The quality of international students has been a constant issue and is indeed a concern from my perspective,” agreed Jang Wan Ko, a professor in the department of education at Sungkyunkwan University.

“The government originally intended to recruit talented international students, but in reality, Korean universities have been recruiting any international students,” he continued. “This is because the universities, not the government, want to actively recruit more international students.”

However, Jun Hyun Hong, a professor in the School of Public Service at Chung-Ang University, argued that it was still difficult to judge the impact of increasing enrolments with limited data. “The number 27,000 [the rise in international recruitment] could be manageable as a whole, but some universities would not be sufficiently ready to educate rapidly increasing numbers of foreign students,” he said. 

While the government did not share demographics of international student arrivals, data from 2024 showed Chinese students were the biggest cohort by far, making up about 55 per cent of foreign students in South Korea. 

helen.packer@timeshighereducation.com