The evaluation of Asian universities jointly conducted by the Chosun Ilbo and global university evaluation institute Quacquarelli Symonds of the U.K. shows that Korean universities have a low level of globalization.

Globalization has been a hot topic at Korean universities for the past three to four years. They pushed ahead with efforts to internationalize their program, including increasing English classes, wooing students from abroad, and operating exchange student programs. However, despite these efforts, not a single Korean university was listed in the Asian top 10 in terms of globalization. The biggest problem may be that many Korean students go abroad, but foreign students do not seek education in Korea.

The evaluation showed that many Korean students are studying at foreign universities via student exchange programs. Some 6.1 percent of students at Ewha Womans University study abroad annually, while the figure was 5.6 percent for the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, 5.2 percent for Kyunghee University, 4.7 percent for Sungkyunkwan University, and 4.6 percent for Hankuk University of Foreign Studies. However, it seems that few foreign students choose Korea for exchange programs. In terms of the proportion of foreign exchange students at a Korean university, Chungang University ranked top with 4.4 percent, followed by Sungkyunkwan University and Hankuk University of Foreign Studies (2.7 percent each), Pohang University of Science and Technology (2.5 percent), and Ewha Womans University (2.4 percent).

Domestic universities, in particular, showed the lowest rankings in the number of foreign professors. Hankuk University of Foreign Studies ranked top among Korean universities with 15.6 percent of foreign professors, but lagging far behind the University of Hong Kong (57.9 percent), the Chinese University of Hong Kong (42.0 percent), and Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (68.1 percent).

In terms of the total number of foreign students at school, topping the list were Ewha Womans University, KAIST, Sungkyungkwan University, Hanyang University, Inha University, and Sogang University. As of April last year, the number of foreign students in Korea amounted to 63,952, up four times in four years from 16,832 in 2004. But some experts point out that they were from a limited number of countries, with a whopping 70 percent from China, five percent from Japan, three percent each from Mongolia and Vietnam, and two percent from the U.S.  

Hankuk University of Foreign Studies was the most globalized domestic university, but in Asia, the school ranked 11th.