Local universities attracting foreign students for survival

Schools face income drop amid declining number of students

By Kim Jae-heun

The decreasing population here due to the lowest-ever birthrate in the country has already caused multiple social problems. The low number of students at universities here is one prominent issue at the moment.

The falling birthrate has naturally led to a diminishing number of students at elementary, middle and high schools ― and eventually universities.

The 2018 statistics on overall enrollment of new undergraduates in the country has recorded the lowest since 2010. Only 311,125 freshmen entered college this year, according to the Ministry of Education.

The total number of students currently at universities also recorded the lowest number in eight years, 2.03 million, which is 20,583 down from 2017.

Since 2013, the government has cut down on recruitment at substandard universities as part of its college restructuring plans to cope with the decreasing number of students.

This trend has brought an alarming decline in local universities' income on tuition fees, too.

Universities here earned a total 8 trillion won last year, which is nearly a 300 billion won decrease from 2013.

The proportion of tuition fees among total university income has dropped from 46.4 percent to 43.3 percent during the same period.

The numbers may seem trivial considering tuition's percentage of the total income, but universities in metropolitan areas lost about 17 percent of their tuition fee incomes.

The situation gets worse with universities in provincial areas which lost nearly 83 percent of their tuition fee incomes. This was due to the government's restructuring plan that classified many colleges in the countryside as substandard due to a lack of competitiveness compared to the prestigious schools usually located in Seoul.

It has naturally led many universities to turn their eye toward a new business ― attracting students outside of the country.

In 2006, there were only 32,557 foreign students studying in the country.

However, with the implementation of the government's college restructuring plan in 2013, the number of foreigners at local universities exploded 280 percent up to 123,858 students last year.

The number of foreign students visiting for short periods of time to take only university language courses increased by 421 percent to reach 51,826 from 9,933 during the same period.

Byun Jae-duk, president of the Korea Universities PR Association, said the government's restructuring plan forced many universities to turn to foreign students to make up the losses they suffered from tuition income.

“All the prices connected to our living costs have risen including taxi fares. But the university tuition fees have been frozen for nearly 10 years. Attracting foreign students is no longer an option but a must for many schools now,” Byun told The Korea Times.

He added that there are more short-term visiting foreign students than those who come to Korea with long-term plans for undergraduate or graduate courses.

“There is more demand for language schools than undergraduate or graduate course. It costs money to promote our education programs abroad but no foreign brokers are interested in introducing bachelor's degrees at our universities, which means schools have to pay for the program promotion to an uncertain market,” Byun said.

Quality of educational programs disappoints foreigners

Education insiders have criticized the quality of education programs for foreign students and an insufficient study environment at local universities.

A number of experts argue that local universities have to prepare better programs for foreign students than what they offer now.

Complaints are coming from foreign students too, who are currently taking undergraduate and graduate courses at Korean universities.

“I've always liked Asian cultures and their languages through the TV dramas I watched. I found Korean drama and TV shows really attractive and wanted to learn Korean language,” said Martina Sorrentino, an Italian student studying for a master of arts at Konkuk University. “However, I am not happy at all with the curriculum provided by my school. I came here to study animation and when I applied here, the school told me there were practical classes I could take.

“Obviously, they were not prepared and the school did not know how the education system really works. I am left to learn things I don't even need and I am using my school vacation to learn things from online lectures on the internet.”

Russian student Tanya Boguslavskaya at Sungkyunkwan University also expressed her disappointment with the quality of education provided by the school.

Boguslavskaya says a number of professors at her university are unprofessional and less engaged in classroom discussions.

“I feel some teachers here are not as strict as those in my country. They assess students' work based on superficial criteria such as quantity of the work and not the quality of it. Older professors tend to be less open to discussion too. There are barely any opportunities to express your opinion and if you go against their point of view, you get bad grades,” Boguslavskaya said.

A Moroccan student at Dongguk University, Asmaa Aalbachi, further pointed out that there should be more lectures taught in English if Korean universities want to attract foreign students.

Many foreign students come to Korea expecting to study fully in English and end up disappointed.

Aalbachi's friends also registered for lectures at different universities here taught in English but many of them turned to Korean language for the professors' convenience.

“It would be great if the universities here can offer various programs for foreign students to make friends with Koreans. When we come to Korea, often we barely speak the language and it is very hard to get involved with Korean students. I hope the schools get more engaged in helping foreign students to settle down in the beginning,” Aalbachi said.