South Korean universities say that they are keen to boost Latin American enrolment after numbers from that market more than doubled in three years. One link-up with Guatemala has already occurred... South Korean universities have said they are keen to boost Latin American enrolment after seeing a promising rise in students from that market.
While small compared with other markets, numbers from South and Central America in South Korea are said to have more than doubled from 184 in 2008 to 400 last year.
South Korean universities are now looking to build on the momentum. After a signing a Memorandum of Understanding with the Guatemalan science and technology ministry, Kyung Hee University (Korea’s seventh highest ranked university in 2010) said this week it was keen to broaden its ties in the region.
Gon Khang, dean of the university’s office of international affairs told
The Korea Herald he had also been approached by Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (ranked 95th in Times Higher’s world rankings) and other top universities for advice on how to attract more international students.
“It seems to me that globalisation is to savour different cultures,” Khang told the paper. “We need to meet with and talk to people from different cultures to do that. That is why we would like to attract students not only from Latin America but from all over the world.”
This week the
Herald reported that the number of Guatemalan students in Korea was climbing healthily. Fifty Guatemalans were said to have graduated from Korean universities already (with a further fifty studying in Korea this year), when six years ago not one had studied a full degree in the country.
Alumni have returned to work on bilateral relations between Guatemala and Asia for the Guatemalan ministry of foreign affairs, reported the paper. The Guatemalan ambassador to Korea, Rafael Salazar, said such educational links would be increasingly important as Latin American and Asian countries develop.
“It is very important for Latin America to reach a high level of education with Korea and the whole Asian region because we have many similar situations,” Salazar said of the venture with Kyung Hee.
“This region of Asia is leading the new way in economic policy in the whole world, so it is very important to increase the number of Latin American students here in Korea. Educational exchange could help improve Latin America’s ties with China, India and ASEAN.”
Korea has grown quickly as a study destination over the last decade
Korea has grown quickly as a study destination over the last decade catering to 1.4% of all international students worldwide in 2009 – more than double its share in 2000.
However, while it has planned to raise international enrolment to 100,000 by the end of 2012 (from around 80,000 in 2009) the vast majority of its overseas students still come from Asia, in particular China and Japan.
Data on Latin American study abroad is scarce, but UNESCO found that 168,231 Latin Americans and the West Indians studied abroad in 2007 – a relatively small 6% of the international student market. Their preferred destinations were the US, Cuba, France, Spain and the UK.
Evidence suggests Latin American study abroad is growing thanks to a raft of government scholarship schemes. This year Brazil promised to fund
75,000 postgraduate science scholarships by 2014 while Chile will fund 30,000 by 2018.
South Korean universities have said they are keen to boost Latin American enrolment after seeing a promising rise in students from that market.
While small compared with other markets, numbers from South and Central America in South Korea are said to have more than doubled from 184 in 2008 to 400 last year.
South Korean universities are now looking to build on the momentum. After a signing a Memorandum of Understanding with the Guatemalan science and technology ministry, Kyung Hee University (Korea’s seventh highest ranked university in 2010) said this week it was keen to broaden its ties in the region.
Gon Khang, dean of the university’s office of international affairs told The Korea Herald he had also been approached by Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (ranked 95th in Times Higher’s world rankings) and other top universities for advice on how to attract more international students.
“It seems to me that globalisation is to savour different cultures,” Khang told the paper. “We need to meet with and talk to people from different cultures to do that. That is why we would like to attract students not only from Latin America but from all over the world.”
This week the Herald reported that the number of Guatemalan students in Korea was climbing healthily. Fifty Guatemalans were said to have graduated from Korean universities already (with a further fifty studying in Korea this year), when six years ago not one had studied a full degree in the country.
Alumni have returned to work on bilateral relations between Guatemala and Asia for the Guatemalan ministry of foreign affairs, reported the paper. The Guatemalan ambassador to Korea, Rafael Salazar, said such educational links would be increasingly important as Latin American and Asian countries develop.
“It is very important for Latin America to reach a high level of education with Korea and the whole Asian region because we have many similar situations,” Salazar said of the venture with Kyung Hee.
“This region of Asia is leading the new way in economic policy in the whole world, so it is very important to increase the number of Latin American students here in Korea. Educational exchange could help improve Latin America’s ties with China, India and ASEAN.”
Korea has grown quickly as a study destination over the last decade
Korea has grown quickly as a study destination over the last decade catering to 1.4% of all international students worldwide in 2009 – more than double its share in 2000.
However, while it has planned to raise international enrolment to 100,000 by the end of 2012 (from around 80,000 in 2009) the vast majority of its overseas students still come from Asia, in particular China and Japan.
Data on Latin American study abroad is scarce, but UNESCO found that 168,231 Latin Americans and the West Indians studied abroad in 2007 – a relatively small 6% of the international student market. Their preferred destinations were the US, Cuba, France, Spain and the UK.
Evidence suggests Latin American study abroad is growing thanks to a raft of government scholarship schemes. This year Brazil promised to fund 75,000 postgraduate science scholarships by 2014 while Chile will fund 30,000 by 2018.
