Thursday 10 a.m. at the front gate of Sogang University Graduate School of International Studies, and blond students with backpacks are running into the building. In the classroom, half of the 20 or so students are from abroad, and in the whole of the graduate school, 60 out of 110. In business terms, more than half of the education services at Sogang University Graduate School of International Studies is consumed by foreign customers. "Finally, the era of education exports has begun,¡± says Lee Kyu-young, the dean of the Graduate School.
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Foreign students at Sogang University Graduate School of International Studies laugh in front of a classroom on April 10.
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¡ß Graduate schools lead the trend
In Korea, education has been an industry for domestic consumption. But several universities have started taking the lead in exporting education services. Just like exports of goods, education export means earning foreign currency by drawing foreign consumers. According to an estimate by Business Week, the global education market amounts to US$30 billion annually. The largest exporter is the U.S., which earns $13 billion by attracting several hundreds of thousand of students every year. Now, Korean universities are starting to make inroads to this huge market.
The leading players are the graduate schools of international studies of nine universities. The number of foreign students studying in such graduate schools is rapidly increasing. At Kyung Hee University Graduate School of Pan-Pacific International Studies, the number of paying foreign students increased from six in 2005 to 25 in 2006, or 70 percent of all students. At Seoul National University Graduate School of International Studies, there were only 12 foreign students in 2003, but the number jumped fivefold to 51 in 2006. At Yonsei University, there are 111 foreign students, double the number of three years ago. At Chung-Ang University, three foreign students in 2003 increased to 20. Most of the foreign students are from Asian countries like China, Vietnam and Malaysia.
¡ßMarketing strategies
By now, universities' strategies to attract foreign students are well developed. Some universities implement ¡°zero tolerance¡± principles to provide a complete English-communication environment by hiring academics who have lectured abroad. Other measures include a one-on-one service where faculty help foreign students via cell phone, up to publishing their research in international journals, and "internship Insurance", where foreign students get work experience with more than one of Korea's leading companies.
At Seogang University, faculty throw a Korean-style welcome party for students, and the college implements a ¡°helper" system where foreign and Korean students are paired for short trips over the weekends. Those are strategies to strengthen student loyalty and help promote the universities via word of mouth in their home countries.
¡ß Challenges
But there are problems. Some universities offer foreign students discounts of up to 70 percent on tuition fees. There are also cases where foreign students leave universities and illegally find work. Park Bun-soon, a researcher at the Samsung Economic Research Institute, says the urgent thing is thinking of ways to reduce education imports rather than how to increase education exports.
Other experts argue that Korea should develop competitive niche products based on long-term strategies as an education exporter. Singapore attracts more than 50,000 foreign students every year through its education hub strategy to lure branches of prestigious universities since 1998. India became an education exporter with 30 high-end international schools, which are fully equipped with swimming pools, golf courses and 24-hour medical centers but cost only a quarter of British schools with similar facilities.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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