Korean Students in Asia Surpass 124,000
By Kang Shin-who
Staff Reporter
More and more college students are heading to Asia to study languages, with others venturing to the Middle East and South America.
The Ministry of Education, Science and Technology reported Tuesday that the number of Korean college students overseas has increased to 243,224 this year, up from 159,903 in 2003 and 149,993 in 2001.
So far, the United States, Canada and European countries have been their main destinations but more have started to look to other countries in Asia, Central and South America, and the Middle East.
The number of Korean students in Asian countries has increased to 124,833 this year from 50,053 in 2001.
Also countries in Central and South America, and the Middle East have more than doubled the number of Korean students to 273 and 236, respectively, compared to eight years ago.
Korea has some 2 million undergraduate students at domestic colleges. North American countries had 85,095 Koreans studying there, 5,000 more than that in 2001. European countries had 32,653 Korean students.
China had a total of 66,806 Korean students; Britain, 17,031; Malaysia, 730; Ireland, 570; Vietnam, 534; Thailand, 361; Spain, 150; the Czech Republic, 120; and Singapore, 106.
Korean university students have also enrolled in schools in Nepal, Guatemala, Chile, Syria and Iran.
However, the number of Korean students has fallen in some countries. Canada had 15,971 this year, down from 21,891 in 2001; Russia, 934 from 1,212; Italy, 606 from 3,500; and France, 6,212 from 6,614.
Korean students studying abroad are grouped into three categories: those learning foreign languages, regular college students and graduate school students.
The number of students overseas, just to learn and experience life abroad, has doubled over the past eight years, standing at 98,644, which accounts for 41 percent of the total Korean nationals studying in foreign countries.
Some 37,000 took undergraduate courses but about 110,000 were studying at graduate schools.
The number of overseas undergraduate students has remained almost the same. But the number of graduate school students has increased by 49 percent to 71,823 over the past eight years.