Policies to Attract High Quality Foreign Students into Korea

High quality manpower is a prerequisite to maintain and further improve national competiveness. As a strategy for acquiring talents, Korea has attempted to attract and retain high quality foreign students by implementing several policies like ‘Study Korea 2020’, ‘International Education Quality Assurance System’, and the ease of visa restrictions for employment and job search. Several ministries including Ministry of Education, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Employment and Labor, and Ministry of Health and Welfare have participated in the process of improving the policies related. However, the total number of foreign students tends to decrease since 2012. Masters’ and Ph.D. programs in national strategic areas of science and technology lack competent students. These facts imply that Korea needs more practical policy approach which is based on the collaboration between higher education institutions and enterprises along with administrative and financial support by the government. After analyzing the current status of foreign students and the government’s policies implemented to attract high quality foreign students with their limitations, this paper suggests that the government needs to (i) induce colleges and universities to design and provide diverse internationalized education and research programs that can meet demands from foreign students and countries; (ii) provide systematic employment services to foreign students and opportunities to adapt themselves to organizational culture; (iii) promote private companies’ recruitment of foreign graduates; and (iv) increase the budget to provide higher level of financial aids to foreign students, especially in strategic areas.