Korea: Strict Rules Hamper Int'l Education so Foreigners Turn Their Eyes to Other Countries

[Harold Schiffman]

Strict Rules Hamper Int'l Education'
Foreigners Turn Their Eyes to Other Countries
By Kang Shin-whoStaff Reporter
The British Council head says Korea's strict regulations on foreignschools are deterring many international investors from establishingschools here. Also those regulations are slowing down globalization ofKorean education. In an interview with The Korea Times, BritishCouncil Director Ian Simm said many British school founders facedifficulties because Korea has a lot of difficulties and rules againstforeigners and that makes many foreigners turn their eyes to othercountries for education investment. ``Many British education providersfound there are a lot of rules against foreigners in Korea. Forexample, secondary international schools are not allowed to have morethan 10-30 percent of Korean students.'' ``But there are not manyforeign students who want to study that kind of education, so to makeit economically work, they have to recruit Koreans who want to learnEnglish. Also, they are not allowed to return money home even to coverthe cost of operating,'' the British director s!
 aid.
``It makes it very difficult to operate schools not only for Britishpeople but also for people from other countries. They said `educationis business.' For example, the University of Surrey has been talkingto a Korean corporation about setting up campuses in Songdo, freeeconomic zone of Incheon, for three years and between times they havebeen over to China and set up a campus. Regulations are stoppinginternational schools from coming here,'' he added.  The BritishCouncil is the UK's international organization for educationopportunities and cultural relations. Now it operates in 110countries. In Korea it was established in 1973. The council is dealingwith services in education promotion, English teaching, informationprovision, and examinations.
Especially, the council is highly concerned in English languageeducation and proactively sharing ideas on English language teachingwith Korean education authorities. ``We have done English teachertraining with Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education. We are alsoworking with the Korea Institute of Curriculum & Evaluation on testingEnglish and we brought some British consultants to work with them ontesting English, particularly for young learners,'' Simm said.
The council is also willing to help the Ministry of Education andHuman Resources Development develop a state-run English test which isto be introduced in 2009.
As for the large number of Korean children studying abroad, theBritish director expressed concerns on the trend. ``We believe verystrongly that education should be international but I don't think ―this is my personal view ― it is right that children should go abroadfor education in elementary schools. That would not be helpful, itmakes children interrupted. I don't think that's a good idea,'' hesaid.
Mentioning high school students or university students should haveopportunities to go for overseas education programs, Simm expressedhis wish that more Korean students choose British for theirinternational experience. He also introduced strong study fields inBritain such as energy, biotechnology, nanotechnology. Also, the U.K.one-year study program is gaining popularity among Korean workers, hesaid.
Lastly, Simm pointed out problems of Korea's visa policy for foreignEnglish teachers. ``We don't insist teachers of English languageshould come from native speaking countries. I lived in India for sixyears and many Indians can speak better English than I do, really theydo. Same in Singapore even though they have accents,'' he said. ``Itdoesn't matter where they are from and we don't care whether they havecollege degrees. Only English teaching certificates and high level ofEnglish language ability are matter for English teachers.''
Currently, Korean visa regulation for foreign language teaching, E-2visa requires an English teaching foreigner should be a native speakerwho has been taught at least a bachelor, master or doctor's degree intheir mother country.
kswho at koreatimes.co.kr http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/special/2007/12/181_15797.html

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