8 in 10 International Students Want to Stay and Work in South Korea After Graduation

More than eight out of ten international students in South Korea intend to stay in the country to look for jobs after graduation, a recent survey has found.

There are over 200,000 international students in South Korea, the majority of whom are from China, Vietnam, and Japan, Erudera.com reports.

According to a survey of 155 international students by JobKorea, a leading employment platform in Korea, 86.5 percent of students said they are already looking or planning to look for jobs.

Of these, 41.9 percent are currently looking to join the workforce in the country while 44.5 percent are planning to look for a job. About 10 percent of students responding to the survey said they were not interested in working in the country.

Additionally, nearly 12 percent said they are already working in Korea, according to Break News Reporter. The majority of students mentioned retail services, education, sales, IT and telecommunication, or finance as the industries where they have either worked or would like to work,

Figures show that 41.3 percent of respondents have experience or would like to work in services, followed by education mentioned by 32.3 percent. Moreover, sales was chosen by 24.5 percent, IT and information and communication by 18.1 percent, and finance by 17.4 percent. Other sectors like logistics and manufacturing were chosen by 10.3 percent.

Data by the Korea Tourism Organization show the number of international students in South Korea reached 204,000 between January and June, up 50.6 percent compared to the same timeframe last year. Most of these students (112,000) are from China, followed by 33,000 from Vietnam and 6,900 from Japan.

Overall, data show that during this year, international student enrolment in the country has increased by 15 percent, totaling 208,962 students to date.

“As local governments actively sought to attract international talent, we also observed an increase in international students outside of the greater Seoul area,” Minister of Education Lee Ju-ho was earlier quoted by local media as saying.

The surge in the international student population comes as part of the South Korean government’s efforts to attract 300,000 students by 2027. The "Study Korea 300K" Project is a five-year plan with the main goal of attracting a large number of students and placing South Korea as one of the top 10 study destinations worldwide by 2027.

The plan also aims to address the sharp decline in the school-age population and improve the competitiveness of universities.

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