International students studying in South Korea take a selfie in this undated file photo provided by Yeungnam University.
SEOUL, May 7 (Korea Bizwire) – The number of international students studying at South Korean universities shot up 10 percent on-year in 2022 to set a new record, data showed Sunday, following eased global travel restrictions.
Around 166,870 foreign students were studying at local universities as of April 2022, rising sharply from 152,258 tallied a year earlier, according to the data compiled by the Korean Educational Development Institute.
The figure represents the total number of students enrolled not only in undergraduate and graduate programs but also in non-degree and language courses.
The number of international students studying here surpassed the 100,000 mark for the first time in 2016 and reached 160,165 in 2019.
Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, however, the figure declined to 153,676 in 2020, as students returned to their home countries, while others postponed their enrollment.
South Korean universities, particularly those located outside the greater Seoul area, have been seeking to attract more international students in response to the declining number of domestic freshmen resulting from the critically low birthrate.
Only 19,939 babies were born in February this year, down 3.7 percent from a year earlier, according to the data from Statistics Korea. The number of babies born in South Korea has been falling on-year for 87 consecutive months.
(Yonhap)
