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MOE Explains Study Korea 300K Project: Becoming Asia’s Talent Hub

Interview - February 3, 2025

As the number of international exchange students in South Korea sets new records, Minister of Education Mr. Lee Ju-Ho continues to invest in higher education.

MINISTER OF EDUCATION, MR. LEE JU-HO
MR. LEE JU-HO | MINISTER OF EDUCATION

South Korea is facing significant challenges, driving the need to internationalize its workforce. With a shrinking population and a projected labor shortage of 7.4 million workers by 2040, coupled with a persistently low birth rate. Simultaneously, the global expansion of Korean SMEs has increased the demand for a more internationally oriented workforce and leadership. How can higher education help address these challenges, particularly regarding labor shortages and attracting global talent?

The Korean government is keenly aware of the regional depopulation issue that you mentioned, and the Korean ministries are collaborating to find solutions.

Human capital is increasingly valued globally, and as Korean companies expand their international reach, their demand for talent with global perspectives is growing. In addition, a growing international interest in Korea's economic development and social innovation attracts more and more international talent to pursue their studies in Korea. Therefore, we believe that expanding the reach of higher education to the global community to attract and embrace talented individuals into our society will contribute to addressing the demographic crisis and raising national competitiveness.

Today, Korean universities play a central role in regional innovation, closely aligned with regions and industries, leveraging their excellent education systems and infrastructure. Under this system, both Korean and international students will develop together as globally competent individuals, becoming catalysts for regional development and assuming leadership roles in both Korean and global society.

We believe that if outstanding Korean universities work synergistically by attracting top-tier research and teaching faculty from around the world, it will contribute to securing the competitiveness of future high-tech industries.

 

In 2023, the government launched the Study Korea 300K Project, a series of measures aimed at making South Korea a more attractive destination for international students while promoting collaboration between universities, local industries, and governments. The country’s objective is to rank among the top ten destinations for international students, with a target of 300,000 international students by 2027. How do you assess the effectiveness of this program one year after its launch?

In August 2023, following the announcement of the Study Korea 300K project, the number of international students exceeded 200,000 for the first time this year. We would like to express our gratitude and encouragement to them for choosing Korea. In addition to these quantitative achievements, we believe our most significant accomplishment is providing a turning point in our international student policy.

Previously, individual universities were the primary actors in attracting international students, but now the system is shifting towards a more coordinated and collaborative approach, involving various stakeholders such as government ministries, local governments, and universities, to enhance international student recruitment and support. Local governments are promoting policies to attract, employ, and support international students aligned with regional development strategies, and the number of international students choosing these regions is on the rise. Furthermore, leveraging the university's exceptional education and research environment, we are promoting inter-ministerial cooperation to attract top talent in high-tech and emerging industries.

Moreover, a comprehensive support system is in place to attract international students and facilitate their employment and settlement in Korea. We have established an online job application system, streamlined the visa process, and are also promoting Korean language training and local adaptation programs.

The transformative changes initiated by the Study Korea 300K Project are only beginning to take shape, and we are confident that the future will yield positive outcomes.

 

South Korea faces stiff competition from neighboring countries like Japan and Taiwan, who are also striving to attract international talent, particularly STEM students to bolster their own high-tech industries. From your perspective, what are the key benefits of studying in South Korea?

In essence, studying abroad offers a firsthand experience of a country. I believe it is a significant advantage for international students to study in Korea to experience firsthand Korea's technological innovation and social system.

Higher education in Korea has received substantial government investment, resulting in world-class universities, faculty, and exceptional educational environments. The Korean government provides financial support to universities to foster a global education and research environment and offers various scholarships, such as the Global Korea Scholarship (GKS) and research scholarships for international students. Moreover, there are active global exchanges between universities and robust international student networks, providing them with opportunities to collaborate with talented individuals from around the world.

Furthermore, many programs are in place to facilitate international students' pursuit of studies or research at Korean universities. We support the acquisition of Korean residency status (visa) through the fast visa track for science and technology talents. We have also expanded visa options for international students and researchers and offered residency benefits for their parents and spouses. For those who aspire to work in Korea after graduation, we provide job information and matching support and are in the process of reorganizing the visa system to more actively accommodate international students.

The growth of Korean companies and their active global expansion will also be a compelling factor for international students to choose Korea.

 

One barrier limiting South Korea's appeal is the employability of foreign graduates. Your government has introduced several measures to improve post-graduation employment opportunities for them. These include extending the job-seeker visa to three years, launching the "Fast Track for Permanent Residency" program, introducing a new “Top-tier” visa for high-demand fields such as AI, quantum computing, and aerospace, and expanding the range of job types open to foreigners. What impact do you expect those reforms to have?

As you mentioned, Korea is actively improving its visa system to expand job opportunities for international students, but another significant barrier to working in Korea is the "lack of information."

According to a survey, international students cite lack of job information as the most challenging aspect of finding a job after graduation, and Korean companies also face difficulties in recruiting international students due to limited information about them.

In response, the Korean ministries are collaborating to promote policies to facilitate international students' employment. We have established the K-Work platform, which facilitates online matching between international graduates and job openings at Korean companies, and provides a diverse range of job information in multiple languages.

Local governments are playing an important role by supporting international students' employment in alignment with strategic industries in their respective regions.

On the other hand, universities are supporting international students in preparing for employment by assisting them in developing work skills from the academic stage and providing them with workplace experiences through internships and other programs.

 

In recent years, the government has made strategic decisions within the Global Korea Scholarship program, creating dedicated scholarships for specific countries. These initiatives have led to a more diverse pool of international students, moving beyond the historically dominant student groups from neighboring countries like China and Vietnam.  

While Korea is not unique in having a high proportion of international students from certain countries, such as China and Vietnam, we are strategically seeking to attract international students from a diverse range of countries to establish ourselves as a global education hub. To this end, we are expanding the proportion of GKS (government invited scholarship program) in the sciences and diversifying our outreach to countries with high demand for economic cooperation, such as defense and nuclear power plants (e.g. Poland, UAE), and countries with a large pool of science and engineering talent (e.g. India, Pakistan).

Moreover, we continue to strengthen youth exchanges between Korea, the U.S., and Japan, and are improving systems such as financial support and visas to attract more exceptional research talent from around the world.

We also organize Study Korea Fairs in many countries in collaboration with universities and local governments to respond to the growing worldwide interest in studying in Korea.

 

Digital transformation (DX) and emerging IT technologies, such as generative AI, are reshaping education globally. These technologies are not only impacting curricula but also driving the concept of lifelong learning, as professionals must continuously update their skills to stay competitive. With your cabinet currently working on the implementation of AI-powered digital textbooks for elementary to high schools grade, how do you foresee digital transformation and ICT shaping the future of higher education in South Korea?

In the age of digital transformation, digital technologies, including AI, are advancing at an incredibly rapid pace and are transforming our lives in profound ways. To thrive in this era, students need to cultivate “the ability to ask their own questions and find their own answers.” The need for “interdisciplinary thinking” and “flexible adaptability” across various disciplines, rather than specialized knowledge in a single major, and “creativity” and “initiative” in responding to novel challenges is becoming increasingly crucial.

Higher education is undergoing a transformation to nurture human capital with the required competencies for the era of digital transformation ushered in by AI. To foster innovative talent to lead the digital transformation (DX) era, the Korean Ministry of Education is expanding the number of majors in high-tech fields such as digital and AI, and is encouraging talented individuals to study related high-tech fields through R&D budgets for science and engineering. We also offer master's and doctoral level research grants, and university funding support projects. This will accelerate innovation in higher education, including the development of interdisciplinary curricula through collaboration, the implementation of flexible academic management that empowers student choice and participation, and the expansion and quality improvement of online learning courses utilizing AI technologies such as AI tutors.

 

The global education sector is increasingly adopting an interdisciplinary approach, such as Oxford University introducing its Physics and Philosophy degree, and initiatives from the private sector, which places greater value on graduates with interdisciplinary qualifications. This aligns with your minister’s efforts to implement initiatives and reforms that support universities in bridging the gap between humanities and sciences, encouraging students to apply to non-major departments. This marks a significant departure from the traditional Korean education philosophy.

In a world where the boundaries between disciplines are blurring (the age of Big-Blur), creativity and problem-solving skills that can tap into new information are more important than mere knowledge of a particular subject. This requires breaking down the barriers between majors within universities and providing students with interdisciplinary education.

In light of these societal changes, the Korean Ministry of Education is expanding the “exploratory major system” to broaden students' options for major selection and to enhance interdisciplinary education. Not only have we expanded the recruitment of students who can freely choose their majors from the admissions stage, we have also established a system to systematically support students in finding majors and careers that align with their interests and aptitudes. We are also promoting curriculum innovation to enhance interdisciplinary capabilities.

 

As Korea’s population shrinks and young people gravitate toward the capital, regional universities increasingly rely on foreign enrollment to address demographic challenges. However, most international students remain concentrated in Seoul, with the top five universities for foreign nationals in 2023 located in the capital. How does the national government work with regional governments and universities to attract foreign students while ensuring they receive quality education and career opportunities in Korea?

The most significant change since the launch of the Study Korea 300K Project is the connection between regional development strategies and international student policies. The RISE initiative transfers the authority for university funding support from the central government to local governments, empowering local governments and universities to implement a range of policies that drive local innovation. Local governments will establish strategies to attract international talent through close consultation with local universities and companies, attract international students aligned with local manpower needs, and promote policies tailored to local characteristics, including study, employment, and settlement.

Local government support for universities has been limited in the past, but the central government is now focusing on its mediating role to build a collaborative system between local governments and universities and to ensure its smooth operation, as well as identifying and broadly sharing local best practices.

 

In conclusion, if you had to convince international students or faculty members to come and study here in South Korea, what would be your key message to them?

The quality of higher education in Korea has been improving due to the government's intensive financial investment since 2000. As a result, Korea's research and teaching capabilities have been strengthened. In addition, the Korean government's support for industry-university cooperation and start-ups is increasingly encouraging collaboration and establishment of start-ups between universities and companies. It would be a great advantage for international students to study in Korea to experience firsthand Korea's technological innovation and social system.

The Korean government actively supports visas and scholarships for students from diverse countries to engage in study and research, and develop into global talents. We are also expanding employment and settlement support for those who wish to settle in Korea after graduation.

Through the Study Korea 300K project, Korea aims to become one of the world's top 10 study abroad destinations for talented students from around the world. We look forward to sharing more information about Korean universities, and we appreciate your interest and support.

 


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