By Kang Shin-who
Staff Reporter
Building an alumni association of foreign students will be the No.1 project that NIIED pursues this year. NIIED president Rhee said that it is more important to take good care of foreign students studying here than to just attract a large number of foreign tourists.
``It has been more than 40 years since the Korean government has invited foreign national students with scholarships. While we have targeted attracting more and more foreign students, we have been negligent in networking with top students who can contribute to Korea’s international relationships,’’ Rhee said.
According to the agency, the number of foreigners studying here has been rapidly increasing from 32,000 in 2006 to 49,000 in 2007 and the number far exceeded 50,000 this year with more than 50 nationalities represented.
``We are not in a position to set a target number of foreign students. It is our role to carry on programs to reach the number of foreigners set by the education ministry or the government. We also have to manage them well so they can be Korea-friendly celebrities in their home countries in the future,’’ Rhee said.
``Since I started heading NIIED in October last year, I found that this agency is not only an educational institute but also promotes international relations through foreign students in Korea. I really believe it is a very meaningful and valuable job for the development of Korea,’’ he added.
Regarding Korea’s lack of variety in terms of foreign students’ nationalities, Rhee admitted that Korea is highly dependent on China and other Southeastern countries for foreign students. ``It is crucial that we have many students from nearby countries. However, we will seek true globalization and plan to encourage more nationals to come to Korea through overseas study fairs,’’ he said.
``Korean universities need to increase the number of courses in English but at the same time we have to provide Korean language courses to them. They are here to learn about Korea and the Korean language is essential to do it.’’
Finally, Rhee vowed that the international education agency will set up more Korean schools for Koreans overseas. ``Although there are some 7,000,000 ethnic Koreans abroad, we have only 28 Korean international schools. I aim to build more than 100 schools for Koreans overseas,’’ he said.
After graduating from Seoul National University, Rhee worked in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade for more than 30 years. He also servesd as secretary to the President for policy planning matters.