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The Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Justice announced ‘Education Internationalization Competency (IEQAS) Certified Universities’ and ‘Survey on Attraction and Management of International Students’.
The reason why this announcement is important is that if you are selected as an IEQAS certified university, you will receive benefits such as easing the screening criteria for issuing a visa for foreign students (VISA) and adding 5 hours of permitted time for part-time work activities during the week.
However, unaccredited universities are designated and managed as universities with enhanced visa screening through fact-finding surveys, making it difficult to attract international students.
The Ministry of Education conducts educational internationalization competency certification examinations and surveys on attracting and managing international students every year to respond to the problem of illegal residence of foreign students and to improve the internationalization capabilities of universities.
Certified universities provide various benefits to international students.
This evaluation is conducted separately for the degree program and the language training course. In the case of a degree program, 13 indicators are evaluated, including the basic requirements, ▲ illegal residence rate, and key indicators, ▲ dropout rate, ▲ tuition burden rate for foreign students, and ▲ language proficiency certified by international students.
Language training courses are evaluated in 10 areas, including the basic requirements, ▲ illegal residence rate, and key indicators, ▲ language trainee tuition burden rate, ▲ medical insurance subscription rate, and ▲ Korean language teacher certification rate.
For example, universities with an illegal stay rate of less than 2% of international students or more than 50% of international students meeting Korean language proficiency standards will be accredited. As a freshman, you can meet the criteria if you score level 3 or higher on the Test of Proficiency in Korean (TOPIK).
In 2023, there will be 134 accredited universities for degree programs and 90 for language training courses, all an increase from last year.
Universities with visa issuance restrictions cannot attract international students.
Universities with a high illegal stay rate among international students or those that do not meet the language proficiency standards are subject to restrictions on visa issuance. For degree courses, visa issuance may be restricted if the default rate is 8-10% or higher, and for language training courses, visa issuance may be restricted if the default rate is 25-30% or higher.
As a result of this survey, a total of 40 universities were subject to visa issuance restrictions. These universities will be restricted from issuing visas for one year starting from the second semester of 2024.
The number of foreign students who entered the country last year was about 182,000, which lowered the illegal stay rate somewhat, and other indicators, such as the dropout rate, were similar to the previous year.
Non-accredited universities also have some disadvantages.
Universities that do not participate in the International Education Competency for Education (IEQAS) certification system are designated as ‘universities with enhanced visa screening’ if they do not meet certain standards after the Ministry of Education conducts a survey on the status of attracting and managing international students. If it meets certain standards of the fact-finding survey, it becomes a general university (non-accredited university), and international students undergo general visa screening. You will receive a standard admission letter and a financial ability test, and must go through more stringent procedures than international students at certified universities.
Therefore, it is important for international students to check whether the school they wish to study at is an IEQAS accredited university. Certified universities or excellently certified universities (18 schools) allow international students to enter Korea more easily and conveniently.
Information on accredited universities in 2023 can be found on the Korea Study Abroad Information System (www.studyinkorea.go.kr) and the National Research Foundation of Korea (www.nrf.re.kr) websites.
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