Chinese students at Honam University in Gwangju, some 330 kilometers south of Seoul, enter a school dormitory, where they will be quarantined for two weeks, on Feb. 18. 2020, after they arrived from China amid fears of the new coronavirus. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, July 30 (Korea Bizwire) — To prevent the spread of the coronavirus, the education ministry has decided to encourage universities to have their foreign students take courses remotely in their home countries in the second semester.
The ministry announced on Wednesday that it will carry out foreign student protection and management measures for the second semester as part of efforts to prevent the influx of coronavirus from overseas.
Under this measure, the ministry plans to actively push universities towards allowing foreign students to take courses remotely in their home countries without the need to enter South Korea.
“We will recommend that universities improve their system towards opening the courses that require face-to-face interactions in the first semester of next year,” the ministry said.
“We’ll also give them guidance in detail on how to operate their second semester curricula within the next month.”
The ministry is now working on the establishment of standards to improve the quality of remote classes and to improve foreign students’ satisfaction with online classes.
The ministry will allow the foreign students in degree programs to be exempted from making non-entry reports when they take courses remotely from their home countries.
Under current laws, foreign students with student visa are required to enter the country shortly before or after the semester begins.
The universities have to report to the Ministry of Justice if the foreign students have not entered the country 15 days after the semester begins.
Ashley Song (ashley@koreabizwire.com)
