Korea’s higher education push stalls as foreign faculty numbers decline

Graphic by Bae So-young

Student enrollment at Korean universities is becoming more internationally diverse than ever before. Yet in contrast, the number of foreign instructors continues to decline, exposing structural limits in the country's globalization drive.

Various factors, from low pay and rigid employment rules to visa constraints and housing costs, are undermining universities' efforts to attract and retain global faculty members.

At the same time, universities face a delicate balancing act — easing barriers to bring in more foreign faculty while ensuring they are not hired merely to boost rankings, but can make meaningful contributions to research and teaching.

Graphic by Bae So-young

Pay gap widens under tuition freeze

Data from the Korean Educational Development Institute showed that the number of full-time foreign instructors surged from 1,671 in 2005 to a peak of 5,358 in 2013, before dropping below 5,000 in 2017 and declining further to 4,013 as of 2025. The trajectory tracks the budgetary strain universities began feeling after a tuition freeze.

The freeze has its roots in the early 2000s, when criticism over steep tuition hikes prompted politicians to pledge cuts. The government introduced a tuition cap in 2011, following a 2010 revision to the Higher Education Act that imposed administrative and financial penalties on universities exceeding the permitted increase rate. Since then, tuition fees have effectively remained frozen for nearly 17 years.

With domestic student numbers also falling, universities say the policy has squeezed budgets and constrained investment in research and education — with faculty salaries bearing much of the cost. As a result, low pay remains one of the biggest obstacles to attracting foreign instructors, with Korean universities falling far behind global benchmarks.

In economics, for instance, professors at the top 30 universities in the U.S. typically earn more than 200 million won ($136,000) a year, while mid-career faculty at leading institutions in the U.S. and Hong Kong can command upwards of 300 million won, rising to about 350 million won.

Korean university salaries, once around 50 percent of global benchmarks in the 2010s, have since fallen to roughly 30 percent, widening the gap and weakening efforts to attract top international scholars.

The Ministry of Justice building in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province / Korea Times photo by Jung Da-bin

Visa rules, housing costs add pressure

Alongside low pay, the spousal visa system adds to the burden for foreign faculty considering long-term stays.

Spouses of foreign professors are typically granted F-3 visas, which in principle prohibit employment — a significant constraint at a time when dual-income households are the norm.

While the Immigration Act allows them to work with special permission on activities outside their status — including in professional fields under E-1 to E-7 visas and some manual sectors such as agriculture, livestock and forestry — the process is often handled on a case-by-case basis, limiting practical access to employment.

As a result, a single income often must cover housing and children’s education, placing a heavy financial burden on foreign professors with families.

Housing costs, in particular, is a pressing challenge for those settling in Korea.

“It is very difficult for international faculty to find housing in the city,” said Siavash Saffari of the Department of Asian Languages and Civilizations at Seoul National University. “Quite often, banks are not willing to provide loans for the key deposit needed to rent a place.”

By contrast, leading overseas institutions offer far more comprehensive support. In Hong Kong, there are no restrictions on spousal employment and housing assistance is provided at the institutional level.

“Housing in Hong Kong can be even more expensive than in Korea,” said Lim Woo-young, a Korean economics professor at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST). “The key difference is that the university actively steps in to address the issue through a range of support measures.”

HKUST offers its faculty multiple housing options. Those who choose on-campus accommodation pay about 10 percent of their salary — well below market rates, often less than a third of typical rents. Those who opt to live off campus are also eligible for housing allowances, receiving additional support on top of their salary to cover rental costs.

Korea's Ministry of Justice rolled out a temporary measure to ease spousal visa restrictions, launching a one-year pilot program on March 30 that allows F-3 visa holders to work without additional requirements.

The program covers spouses of highly skilled foreign residents, including graduate students on D-2 visas as well as professors, researchers and other professionals holding E-1, E-3, E-4 and E-5 visas.

The ministry said it will assess the impact of the measure — including its effects on the local job market — before deciding whether to formalize and expand the program.

The National Assembly in Seoul / Korea Times file

Balancing dual affiliations, accountability

Restrictions on dual appointments present another barrier. Under Korea's current rules, university faculty — particularly at national institutions — are barred from holding simultaneous positions at other institutions.

Universities say easing these limits is key to attracting global scholars and the debate is now reaching the legislative level.

“Relaxing the ban on dual appointments would significantly expand exchanges with leading scholars abroad,” said Kim Tae-kyoon, vice president for international affairs at Seoul National University.

He added that a transition period is often needed for foreign faculty to fully settle, noting that dual appointments could allow scholars to gain experience in Korean universities before moving into full-time roles.

“Such arrangements could also help curb the outflow of domestic talent to overseas institutions,” Kim said.

In response to growing demand to bring in faculty from overseas universities, a revision to the Educational Officials Act cleared the National Assembly’s Legislation and Judiciary Committee in March, though it has yet to complete the legislative process.

The government is also preparing measures to introduce a dual affiliation system, allowing top talent to retain positions at their home institutions while being appointed at universities in Korea. According to the Ministry of Education, details such as the scope of eligible candidates are still under review.

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However, concerns have also been raised that lowering entry barriers too far could result in foreign hires being used primarily to boost institutional metrics.

Recently, major Korean universities have come under scrutiny for appointing prolific overseas researchers as adjunct faculty, listing them in name only with little involvement in teaching or substantive research collaboration, in an effort to improve global ranking metrics.

Universities, however, counter that multi-affiliation systems can strengthen research quality by enabling cross-institutional collaboration, particularly in fields where a single university may lack advanced equipment or facilities.

“With leading universities around the world breaking down research barriers through flexible affiliation systems, we also need to move beyond rigid single-affiliation models to strengthen global competitiveness,” an official at Korea University said.

Multiple affiliations are, in fact, a growing global trend. Of the 7,131 researchers named Highly Cited Researchers in 2025, about 17.7 percent — or 1,266 — held multiple institutional affiliations.

Programs such as the visiting scholar system at Northwestern University and the senior visiting fellows scheme at HKUST are widely used to attract top faculty and foster collaborative research.