Forty students from EU countries studied in Korea in 2014/15 through the Korea and EU Degree Opportunities for Students programme. The 100% increase in outbound students was due to high demand for the exchange programme and flouts the stereotype of some European students lacking interest in study abroad, participants say.

“Historically, the reputation of UK universities has been that students are not interested in studying abroad – but this project has shown that for us, it’s completely the opposite”

“The 2013/2014 academic session was a very successful one for the project and the positive feedback from returning students inspired more students to get involved,” a spokesperson for participating Northumbria University told The PIE News.

Set up in 2012 to facilitate a ‘25%’ dual degree framework – where one year out of a four year degree is spent abroad – the programme is backed by 1.1bn won (€790,000) in funding from EU and the National Research Foundation of Korea.

Seven universities are participating in the project including Warsaw University of Technology and the University of Warsaw in Poland and the University of Ljubljana in Slovenia, which is organised by Kyungpook National University in Korea and led by Budapest University of Technology and Economics in Hungary.

Focussed on graduate employability, the programme enables students to work and study simultaneously.

Obtaining a dual degree from both an EU university and a well-ranked Korean university, along with experiencing immersion in South Korean culture and some language “helps enhance post-graduation prospects”, the spokesperson noted.

Alison Pearce, project manager at Northumbria, also commented: “Choosing to go to Korea says something very different about you.”

“For students who have taken part, subsequent interviews always tend to be dominated by questions about their experience of Korea.”

At Northumbria, students can apply to spend a full year at either KNU in Daegu or Chonnam National University in Gwangju in order to obtain degrees from both institutions they attend.

“Historically, the reputation of UK universities has been that students are not interested in studying abroad – but this project has shown that for us, it’s completely the opposite,” said Pearce.

At the beginning of the project, it was predicted that 180 Korean and EU students will benefit from the initiative, which will run until 2016.

An additional 13 Korean and 20 EU faculty members will spend time overseas over the course of the project.