Local universities to establish overseas campuses

By Kim Hyun-bin

Local universities will soon be able to establish overseas campuses, allowing foreign students to earn a Korean university diploma from the convenience of their home country, according to the Ministry of Education, Tuesday.

The education ministry seeks to revise legislation to allow the export of a local university’s course curriculum to foreign institutions.

The new policy is expected to enhance global competitiveness for local universities, while giving them the opportunity to branch out overseas.

Through the revision, the ministry also aims to enhance the competitiveness of domestic universities and create a means for foreign students to receive a Korean university diploma without physically attending classes in Korea.

“In the past we jointly operated university curriculum with foreign institutions and handed out diplomas,” a ministry official said. “However, in order to receive the diploma the student had to take one-fourth of the classes in Korea, which has been a financial burden to many students.”

In the past, it was difficult for foreign students to receive local diplomas without taking the mandatory classes in Korea. The education minister’s approval was required and a quarter of the classes had to be taught by the university’s full-time teaching staff at designated institutions.

The ministry said around 10 universities are interested in the new program and seek to export their course curricula to other Asian nations including Kyrgyzstan, Vietnam and China.

“Scores of foreign students are interested in the Korean university curriculum including Korean language classes and enrolling at one of our engineering schools,” a ministry official said.

The ministry asked the selected local institutions to meet the operation standards for distance learning by maintaining high-quality servers and obtaining necessary communication equipment and content development facilities.

Students could take a maximum of one-fifth of their total credits through distance learning.

The revised law could be implemented as early as May.