Jung Da-hyun is a reporter at The Korea Times, covering social issues in Korea, including foreign residents, education, environment and politics. Driven by a deep interest in people’s stories, she focuses on investigative and feature reporting through direct interviews and field coverage. She received the Amnesty International Korea Media Award for her “Deepfake Crisis at Schools” series. Reach her at dahyun08@koreatimes.co.kr. Always open to hearing your stories.
Budget shortfalls hamper Korean universities’ global ambitions
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By Jung Da-hyun
Viewing higher education as investment seen as crucial to widening international appeal
Korean universities are racing to globalize, yet budget shortfalls and the absence of reliable data on international students continue to limit their progress.
Universities repeatedly point to funding as their biggest hurdle. Korean institutions often lack the resources to bring in distinguished scholars from overseas or to properly reward professors producing world-class research.
The shortage has fueled a brain drain, with even elite institutions like Seoul National University losing talent as academics pursue opportunities abroad, further eroding the competitiveness of Korean higher education.
University presidents consistently warn that unless pay scales and research budgets are raised to global standards, Korea will continue to lose capable professors to foreign institutions.
The structural funding gap makes it difficult for local universities to keep pace with counterparts in the United States, Europe and rising Asian hubs such as Hong Kong and Singapore, whose universities dominate established global rankings like QS and THE.
Seoul National University President Ryu Hong-lim has emphasized that higher education budgets should be regarded as an investment, not charity, noting that such funding directly contributes to the national economy and strengthens Korea’s global competitiveness.
Recruiting international students has been considered the first step in Korea's higher education globalization drive. But while numbers show increases, the support systems that should follow are far less robust.
A major shortcoming is the lack of reliable data. Korea has no unified statistics tracking these students — their backgrounds, fields of study, academic or social challenges, or how many secure employment after graduation.
Without this information, universities and policymakers lack the benchmarks needed to design effective support programs. The result is a patchwork of measures that rarely meet students’ needs, leaving many students to navigate academic pressures and uncertain career paths on their own.
Another major hurdle is the gap between government ambitions and the realities of Korea’s labor market. While officials hope more international graduates stay in the country, find jobs and settle, companies have been slow to adopt inclusive practices.
Most industries still treat fluent Korean as a strict requirement, shutting out many otherwise qualified candidates. With corporate culture still slow to embrace global talent, many international graduates leave Korea despite their potential to contribute to the economy.
The Ministry of Justice sign stands in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province / Korea Times file
Visa rules add to the problem. A survey by the KBIZ Korea Federation of SMEs (small and medium-sized businesses) found that two-thirds of 805 international students saw the E-7 visa as a major obstacle to securing employment in Korea after graduation.
“Finding jobs that meet E-7 visa requirements is extremely challenging for international students," said Jung Bong-soo, a labor attorney at Kangnam Labor Law Firm. "Many end up giving up and returning home within a year after graduation.”
He stressed that the government should relax current rules, starting with the establishment of a dedicated visa quota.
For many international students, a lack of accessible information adds to the challenges of studying and building a future in Korea. Resources on visas, job opportunities and support services do exist, but they are scattered across multiple platforms and rarely promoted in a clear or consistent way. Even students who have lived in Korea for several years say they struggle to find reliable guidance both during their studies and after graduation.
“The information exists, but it’s hard to find in a clear and organized way,” said Jose Calderon, 24, a student from the Dominican Republic at Busan University of Foreign Studies. “A lot of groups give advice, but it’s scattered everywhere and worded differently, so it’s hard to know what really matters.”
As a result, students often fall back on word of mouth, which they note is rarely a reliable source of accurate information.
Korea's higher education is at a pivotal moment. While the ambition is clear, the real test lies in whether the government, universities and industries can work together to deliver concrete, effective strategies.