Placement International

Having split from North Korea in 1948 into a separately governed country, South Korea has diverged considerably from its neighbor, developing into an internationally recognized Asian powerhouse in the fields of technology, education and tourism, to name but a few of its strengths. Embracing both tradition and modernity, this ‘Asian Tiger’ has much to offer international students, and ­­capital city Seoul is currently ranked among the world’s top 10 student cities.

Investment in education and research has been at the heart of the South Korea’s growth into the world’s 13th largest economy and the third largest economy within Asia. It’s this investment and growth in innovation and technology that has meant the country is known as one of the four ‘Asian Tiger’ economies, alongside Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan.

In 2004 the South Korean government set a target of attracting 100,000 foreign students to its universities by 2012, and by 2011 the country had enrolled over 85,000 international students from 171 different countries. Now the initiative has sets its sights even higher, with an aim of 200,000 international students by 2020.

There are a variety of fields of study available for international students considering studying in Korea. The most popular fields of study in Korea are in the arts and science, closely followed by business-related courses. If you are an international student interested in any of these fields, enrolling in a South Korean university will ensure that you get the very best education Korea has to offer. If you are more interested in the culture or language of Korea, there are also a number of culture and language-based programs which will take you into the heart of South Korea’s cities and into the pastoral, more traditional countryside. Other unique educational programs include several intensive Korean language summer programs, as well as a National Science Foundation summer institute program for graduate students from the United States.