More MBA classes are taught in English

Students attend the Principles of Hospitality Management class taught in English at Sookmyung Women’s University’s Le Cordon Blue Hospitality MBA program, April 18. Ten of the 14 students in the day-time class come from abroad. Korea Times photo by Yoon Sung-won

By Kim Da-ye

More classes in Korea’s business schools were taught in English in the first half of this year than a year earlier, a report by the Ministry of Education showed.

Nearly 96 percent or 44 of 46 MBA programs at 13 accredited business schools in Korea have classes taught in English. That’s up from 77 percent in the first half of 2012. Eleven full-time programs are taught completely in English, as are two part-time programs, according to the ministry.

Only two courses — Yonsei University’s weekend executive MBA program and Hanyang University’s media-focused full-time MBA — lack classes taught in English.

Many full-time programs are taught in English because they target foreign students also. Part-time courses that are taught in the evening or on the weekend are taken mostly by Korean office workers, senior managers and executives.

The number of classes in English is expected to increase as Korean business schools try to attract more foreign students and more such students consider Korea as an option for business education.

An official at Sungkyunkwan Graduate School of Business (SKK GSB) in Sungkyunkwan University said more than half the applicants for the new class starting this fall are foreigners. Foreign applicants tended in the past to reside in Korea at the time of applying, but the official found many now apply from abroad.

“Foreign students are interested in working in Asia. As the Korean economy remained resilient through the global economic crisis, they increasingly consider doing an MBA in Korea,” said the official.

The biannual report also showed many foreign graduates find jobs in Korea after graduation.

In the first half, 17 of 36 graduates from Yonsei University’s Global MBA program who found a job were foreigners. Nine work for Korean entities while eight were employed abroad. The program had the highest portion of foreign graduates — 22 of 44.

In the case of SKK GSB, 12 out of 51 graduates were foreigners. Ten foreign graduates found employment, all in Korean corporations in the non-banking sector.

SKK GSB was 51st in the Financial Times’ Global MBA Rankings 2013 — up 15 places from a year before — while Korea University’s Global MBA program was ranked 86th.

Most full-time programs start in the second half, admitting a small number of new students, while part-time MBAs usually begin in the first half.

More than 2,280 applied for 992 places in evening and weekend part-time programs in 11 institutions with the competition rate at 2.48 to 1 — down from 3.02 to 1 a year ago. The evening part-time MBA program at Sogang University was the most popular with 4.36 applicants vying for each place.

For the full-time programs, eight schools admitted 185 out of 276 applicants.

In the first half of 2013, 22 foreign students — down from 25 a year ago — entered seven business schools. They include five Americans, five Chinese and five Saudi Arabians.

There are currently 179 foreign students from 43 countries in the 13 accredited institutions. SKK GSB has the highest number of foreign students at 33, compared to 22 in Yonsei and 19 at Seoul National University.

The Le Cordon Bleu Hospitality MBA program at Sookmyung Women’s University admitted only 16 students — eight for the full-time program and eight for part time — and seven of them came from abroad. Sogang is hosting five foreign students.

The programs defined as “Korean-style MBA” by the education ministry aim to foster managers with international management skills and good knowledge of Korean companies.

The accredited institutions are Korea University, Dongguk University, Sogang University, Seoul National University, Sungkyunkwan University, Yonsei University, Ewha Womans University, Chonnam National University, Chung-Ang University, Hanyang University, Inha University, Sookmyung Women’s University and Konkuk University. The business school of the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) is not included.