The Globalization of Seoul's Universities

Only fifty years ago, South Korea was the place where a war took place, but today it becamethe 12^th larger economy in the world. The globalization of its economy largely contributed to its actual success and the country is now paying attention to the education of the population who will become the future managers of the country. It is only since 2008 that Korea has been looking at a closer eye to its foreign students and teachers who contribute to the enlightenment to its universities on the worldwide stage. Those universities have been hiring an increasing number of foreign teachers to develop international programs and theyadmitted more than 100,000 foreign students in 2011 (70% of them were Chinese, followed by Japanese students and only 5% of international students) (Kim, 2012).

The issue that arises here is the adaptation problems that foreign teachers and students usually meet when they arrive in Korea. Of course it is a common issue that most universities with foreign students’ faces, but it is also something that needs to be considered seriously. A particular attention to international students has to be given. However in Korea, many international teachers and students decided to return home after a period of non adaptation to the country (Fouser, 2011).This is why more and more universities are now creating special courses and events to help their integration within the university life and to the country’s culture.Most of those problems were easy to solve for the universities as it was mainly housing, food, and social life difficulties. For example, the University of Dongguk in Seoul, organized events for foreign students in order for them to meet more people but also for Korean students to have the opportunity to interact with them. They put in place a service to help students who are facing problems in the country along with the distribution of a booklet to help them integrate the country during their first steps in Korea (Eun-hye, 2011).

Those simple events are essential to be developed by the Korean universities as foreign students contribute to the reputation of a university in term of international programs. However, some universities managed their international students as “cash-cow”. International students fees being higher, a few Korean universities admitted a big number of foreign students without considering if their academic level was suitable to the university courses and without paying attention to their adaptation in the university. This resulted in a very bad reputation and many English teachers wouldn’t work with those institutions as the level being too low, classes were not interesting for both students and professors. This year, South Korea's Ministry of Education, has named 11 institutions that will be banned from admitting foreign students, and another 19 institutions have been ordered to improve policies on their management of international students (Kim, 2012).

Actually, Korean universities are now reaching the criteria for the world universities ranking, as for example the Seoul National University has been on the 37th place this year and 5 others Korean universities are also present on the top 200 universities in the world. It confirms the step that the country is taking towards a more globalized education system, and it reflects the evolution of the Korean economy (Ince, 2013). A better ranking of Korean universities will attract more foreign teachers who can bring value-added to the teaching programs and thus it will attract more international students who bring diversity and an opportunity for Korean students to become internationally aware and ready to become future global manager.

Having studied myself in a Korean university for 3 months, I was able to see that international students’ management is still something new for Korea, and it was difficult to find campus events for international students, mainly because of the language barrier which is big in the country. However, efforts were made from the university staff and we had a constant help from a staff member. We also had the opportunity to discover the culture of the country through some classes and dinner along the program (Photo below: Dinner in a traditional Korean restaurant in Seoul). 

Most of Seoul Universities are integrating international students every year, and they are willing to give the best they can to facilitate their integration through special staff members and welcoming events. However efforts still need to be done for the integration of international students with the Korean students and the language barrier has to be overcame from both sides.

Ophélie Bourgeois

References:

Eun-hye, K. (2011, June 6). Program to help international students adapt to life at Dongguk.Récupéré sur The Dongguk Post: http://www.dgupost.com/news/articleView.html?idxno=1137

Fouser, R. J. (2011, April 11). University globalization and its limits. Récupéré sur The Korea Times: http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/opinon/2011/04/137_84986.html

Ince, M. (2013, May 22). Korean Universities in the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2013. Retrieved from: Top Universities: http://www.topuniversities.com/where-to-study/asia/korea-south/korean-universities-qs-world-university-rankings-subject-2013

Kim, H.-S. (2012, January 4). SOUTH KOREA: Foreign student ban on 11 institutions. Récupéré sur University World News: http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20120104133043997