Korean language institutes seek Quality Foreign Students

[Harold F. Schiffman]

   08-22-2007 17:33

Korean Language Institutes Seek Quality Foreign Students



By Kang Shin-who
Staff Reporter

The Korean Language Institutes Council will play a leading role in
attracting talented foreign students. Choi Ju-youl, chairman of the
council, told The Korea Times that Korean language institutes are a
critical gateway for foreign students who hope to study at Korean
colleges. ``Foreign students first look for Korean language courses if
they want to study at Korean colleges. After completing their courses,
many of them apply to Korean colleges. This is why we need to work on
drawing excellent international students to our institutes for the
development of Korean colleges, Choi said.

Founded in April 2006, the council has about 60 language institutes and
many of many of them are attached to colleges across the country. Nearly
100 Korean language educators of the council gathered at Kyung Hee
University last Friday to develop various programs for foreign students,
inviting officials from the Ministry of Education and Human Resources
Development and the Ministry of Justice.

Under the theme, ``Strategy to draw talented foreign students for the
globalization of Korean universities, Yeo Jong-gu, an education ministry
official, presented ``Study Korea Project and Kim Sam-joon of Korean
Immigration Service (KIS) made a special presentation on visa policy for
foreign students. According to KIS, there are nearly one million
foreigners here in Korea.  Among them, about 33,000 are students. Korea is
expected to have 50,000 foreign students by 2010.

In accordance with the rise in the number of foreign students, Korean
language institutes have rapidly increased from six in 1990 to 32 in 2004,
reaching 76 this year. Kim Jung-sup, director of Institute of
International Education at Kyung Hee University, also stressed the need
for close cooperation among Korean language institutes.

Council members made some suggestions for a better education environment
for foreigners during the discussion session. They suggested that
government officials need to meet regularly so that they can accommodate
various projects and remove duplication in business.  Also, they asked for
removing the redundant visa process and supporting special funds for
adopted Koreans abroad as well as promoting Korean universities at
overseas secondary schools.

kswho at koreatimes.co.kr

http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2007/08/117_8782.html

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