Oknyeo Kim (Sookmyung Women's University, Graduate School of Public Policy, Department of Social Welfare Policy)
I have contemplated the roles our society should take in helping international students integrate into Korean society.
Honorary professor Jim Dator of the Hawaii Research Center, who is recognized as a world-class authority on future studies, argued that Koreas international prestige will be perceived differently since K-quarantine received global attention undergoing the COVID-19 pandemic. Likewise, even with the pandemic, from K-pop to K-culture, Korean culture, so-called Unquestionable K-culture, is spreading beyond pop culture, and is trusted and enjoyed globally in social, cultural, and economic areas, specifically food, fashion, lifestyle, art, social management systems, and more (The Hankyoreh, 2021.12.29). As Korean culture reached various races, ethnicities, and age groups, the difference in Koreas global position can be divided into before and after the pandemic. The growth of online platforms, such as over-the-top media services, YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram, due to worldwide social distancing, has played a big role in laying the groundwork for the Korean wave to become a rapid world phenomenon. Its influence is especially noticeable amongst younger generations of Asia. With Covid-19 showing signs of becoming endemic, younger generations are leaving the online world to visit Korea and experience the culture hands-on or to study. Alongside the Korean wave captivating the world, the reduced inflow of international students due to COVID-19 is expected to increase. The Ministry of Education has proposed an expansion plan to attract 200,000 international students by 2023 as a countermeasure to the decrease in the domestic school-age population. However, it remains at the level of general service support, mainly for quantitative expansion, such as building capabilities and infrastructure to attract and manage international students centered around universities. Local governments are also proposing various measures to attract international students. However, unfortunately, like the Ministry of Education, policies are planned and executed from a Koreans point of view rather than with a detailed understanding of what international students experience and need while in university or going through everyday tasks in Korea. As a scholar and a citizen of Korea, I am somewhat concerned about how such policies that have failed to reflect the needs of international students will deal with the influx of international students and their effectiveness in meeting their needs. In this article, I would like to review what our society should consider and improve in order to ensure the stable integration of international students in Korea, before establishing a policy to invite them over, both from a conscious aspect and from the perspective of service development.
First, our society needs to build a sense of citizenship in which diverse cultures are respected and can coexist based on interculturalism.
Going through the COVID-19 pandemic, racial hate and discrimination have been on the rise all over the world. On the contrary, due to the Korean wave, discrimination and exclusion against Koreans abroad have been somewhat alleviated compared to before COVID-19. It can be said that foreigners began to develop attachments to Korean culture as they gained an understanding of it and overcame the misunderstandings derived from ignorance and indifference. More and more foreigners are wanting to know more about Korean culture. It is particularly noticeable that international students in Korea have a very high desire to exchange culturally with Korean students (Dongjin Lim, 2021). By cultural exchange (), it means to promote mutual understanding of cultures and ideas. In other words, it means that the growing diversity of cultures is mutually respected and coexists within the local community through the communication and comprehension of the culture or ideology between international students and the locals. Thus, resulting in a culturally diverse era, based on interculturalism.
Despite this, Korean society tends to display different degrees of discrimination and exclusion towards immigrants, including international students, depending on their country of origin. Koreans perception of international students is often unconsciously expressed in preferences and discriminatory attitudes according to the economic position of the country they are from. While they are friendly to immigrants from developed countries such as Europe and the Americas, they occasionally switch to a rather discriminatory attitude toward immigrants from Asian developing or underdeveloped countries. As a reference, according to 2021 Basic Education Statistics announced in August last year by the Ministry of Education, there are 152,281 international students in Korea. Four out of a hundred students that enroll in higher-educational institutions are international students, accounting for a significant proportion. In addition, when looking at the country of origin of the international students, 44.2% of students taking academic courses are Chinese students, followed by students from Vietnam (23.5%), Mongolia (4.0), Japan (2.5%), and United States (1.5%). The proportions show that the majority of international students are from Asian countries. Considering this, many international students experience discrimination in Korea. Students that come to Korea with a favorable attitude to learn more about Korea, experience discrimination rather than positivity. Moreover, such discrimination often leads to exclusion of information and social support necessary to living in Korean society. Immigrants, including international students, were found to experience more social discrimination in receiving stimulus checks, masks, medical information, and so on. Such discrimination leads to cultural conflicts between newcomers and the dominant society, and it is surfacing as a key obstacle to the development of Korean Society. It is one of the social issues that must be resolved ahead of Koreas entry into a multicultural society, and policies to assist in establishing a society in which diverse cultures are respected and can coexist through communication and cultural exchange are much needed.
Hence, in terms of service development, specially tailored policies are needed to help international students settle successfully.
When looking at the settlement support services for international students living in Korea, they often lack dept and show low satisfaction. The study on the settlement of international students conducted by a Korean research team shows that respondents wanting the expansion of opportunities to exchange with Korean students takes up the most at 48.0%, followed by the improvement of Korean language (or major-related tutoring) programs, and residential space with adequate facilities. In addition, preferred settlement programs were employment after graduation, gaining permanent residency, improved citizenship acquisition system (40.5%), authorization on employment of international students (18.0%), providing career and job search information after graduation (16.0%), and expansion of employment-related programs (14.0%) (Dongjin Lim, 2021). It shows that the needs of international students are focused on social exchange with the locals, academic aid, and settlement within the local community after graduation. Attracting international students and their successful integration can be connected to the solution of major social problems in Korea. Korea is experiencing an extremely low birth rate and an aging population at the fastest rate among OECD member countries, and in 2022, 89 out of 229 local governments were designated as the population-declining area. At the same time, local universities are at risk of shutting down due to the reduction of the domestic school-age population, declined number of international students as an effect of COVID-19, and the concentration of international students amongst universities around the capital region. Therefore, the central and local governments are planning to organize policies to attract international students as one of the resolutions to the shortage of productive population resulting from the low birth rate and population aging. Consequently, in addition to the quantitative expansion of international students, local governments, local universities, and the local community should all work together to help them settle within the community by improving the public attitudes toward migrants, including international students, coupled with preparation of policies customized to help them settle. Also, to prevent metropolitan concentration, social infrastructure such as culture, sports, and welfare facilities should be built to improve the quality of life outside the capital district.
References
Dongjin Lim. (2021). Settlement Services Necessary for Each Type of Immigrant and Their Life Satisfaction Analysis: Focusing on Foreign Workers, Marriage Immigrants, and International Students. The Korea Local Administration Review 35(4): 275-312
Yichi Zhang, Minah Kim. (2021). Chinese International Students Experiences of Social Stigma during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Korea, Health and Social Welfare Review, 41(1): 22-41.
Translated by Hyunji Kwon