The number of Korean middle and high school students studying overseas is setting new record highs every year, and now it appears a growing number of elementary students are also heading abroad.

According to a survey by the Korean Educational Development Institute on Wednesday, the number of students in elementary, middle and high school who went overseas to study between March 1, 2006, and Feb. 28, 2007, totaled 29,511. That is an increase of 44.6 percent compared to 20,400 in 2005.

The figure does not include the number of students who moved overseas with immigrating families (7,131) or with parents on foreign job postings (8,783). The survey showed a rapid increase in the number of elementary students going abroad to study.

The number of elementary students heading overseas increased by 69.5 percent from 8,184 in 2005 to 13,814 in 2006. For middle school students, the figure went up by 38.6 percent from 6,670 to 9,246. For high school students, the number rose by 15.5 percent from 5,582 to 6,451.

"These days parents tend to think it would be better for children to learn English as early as possible and they're very active in sending their children to study abroad," an overseas study agency said. "Recently, the number of students in early grades of elementary school who are studying abroad is growing rapidly."

Meanwhile, the number of Korean students studying in foreign universities or higher education institutes has topped 200,000 for the first time. This year 217,959 Koreans went abroad to study at overseas universities, graduate schools or language institutes for adults, up from 190,364 in 2006. As of April 1, 2007, there were 59,022 Korean college or higher institute students in the U.S., 42,269 in China and 19,056 in Japan.

(englishnews@chosun.com )