Attracting International Students for Global Korea

By Jeevan Baniya

Alongside the mobility of capital and goods, knowledge has also been moving from one country to another. Many Western countries have adopted the policy of attracting international students not only as their strategies for globalization but also to benefit from the best uses of students’ skills and expertise. Many countries have been trying to liberalize their government and educational policies so as to provide opportunities to international students.

At times, their policies have created some barriers to students who wish to pursue their higher studies abroad. Such barriers were experienced after 9/11 terror in the United States. However, the number of international students enrolled in colleges and universities in America increased by 3 percent to a total of 582,984 in the 2006/07 academic year, according to the Open Doors report, published annually by the Institute of International Education (IIE). Korea sends the third largest number of students after India and China respectively.

Governments and institutions of higher education worldwide have pursued various policies and programs to draw the very brightest international students. Tony Blair, for example, announced in 2006 that he was putting in place a package of incentives to make Britain an even more attractive destination for international students.
I am giving this picture just in reference to the present Korean government’s dream of making the country a ``Global Korea.’’ It is appreciable that Korea has attracted more students over the recent years and longs to see more coming in the days ahead. Despite some complaints regarding professors’ reluctance and inability to instruct in English, there is still a brighter side about Korea that can lure many international students in Korea.

Based on my observation about the infrastructure for higher education and potential Korean human resources, I am assured that within 10 years from now, 20 percent of Korean colleges and universities’ students will be from overseas if some measurers are carried out soon. To my eyes, the present Korean government, if it wants to seriously realize the dream of globalizing the country, besides expanding their programs in English, should liberalize and clarify its immigration and educational policies soon.

I have had a very strange experience with Korean immigration. Immediately after my graduation from one of the universities in Suwon, I had an opportunity to do an internship in a research institute in Seoul. When visited immigration to apply for a Research Visa, an immigration officer with poor English proficiency was not sure whether he could issue one to me since I was a social science graduate; the gentleman however approached his co-workers to consult them. To silent my curiosity about the possibility to attaining the requested visa, the gentleman asked me to queue up for receiving the visa. Actually, I myself was not sure about what kind of visa to apply for, as such a visa category wasn’t shown on the immigration information site. I was just there to try out with an ambivalent hope.

After 20 minutes of waiting, I was surprised that my student visa (D-2) was extended rather than granting me a different visa, which was not part of Korean immigration policy. Many social science students have been undergoing such difficulties in the past that also limits the globalization dream. If the students pursuing their higher studies in Korea can openly and proudly recommend their friends to come to Korea for further education, Global Korea may be realized.

I hope the Korean government will pay its attention in the near future to such difficulties that students have to undergo because of unclear and insufficient policies for students, and thereby ease its policies on international students in the days to come.

Jeevan Baniya is research fellow at Sungkonghoe University in Seoul. He can be reached at baniyajeevan@hotmail.com.
This article was originally published in www.koreatimes.co.kr
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/special/2010/01/181_26115.html