Having split from North Korea in 1948 into a separately governed country, South Korea has diverged considerably from its neighbor, developing into an internationally recognized Asian powerhouse in the fields of technology, education and tourism, to name but a few of its strengths. Embracing both tradition and modernity, this ‘Asian Tiger’ has much to offer international students, and capital city Seoul is currently ranked among the world’s top 10 student cities.
Investment in education and research has been at the heart of the South Korea’s growth into the world’s 11th largest economy and the fourth largest economy within Asia. It’s this investment and growth in innovation and technology that has meant the country is known as one of the four ‘Asian Tiger’ economies, alongside Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan.
More than 123,000 international students studied in South Korea in 2017 (more than half of whom were from China), and the government has set its sights even higher, with an aim of 200,000 international students by 2023. As part of this ongoing focus on internationalization, several universities in South Korea, including Yonsei University, are opening new international campuses to meet growing demand, while four universities have opened branch campuses at the Incheon Global Campus (IGC), including the State University of New York (SUNY).
