North Korean Defectors to Visit U.S. on Government-sponsored WEST program

Yonhap reports that a group of five North Korean defectors currently enrolled in South Korean colleges will visit the United States on a US government-sponsored programme reserved, until now, for South Korean students only, a government official said today.The five North Korean defectors will likely head for the United States next month, according to the official from Seoul's Unification Ministry."The US Embassy in South Korea and the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology selected the five students in April for the West programme," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.Under the student exchange program, South Korean students can visit the United States for up to 18 months -- five months of mandatory language programmes plus internships up to one year long at US companies, followed by one month reserved for free travels.Thousands of students have visited or are visiting the United States under the programme since its launch in early 2009, but no one originally from North Korea had been offered the chance until now. "We believe the programme will help North Korean defectors get wider experience and better prepare for their future employment," the ministry official said."The ministry will consider extending the programme to more North Korean defectors," he said, adding there are currently about 850 college students here who defected from North Korea.

Private Study Abroad Agencies (유학원들) in South Korea

Over the past several decades, private study abroad agencies have come to play a dominant role in South Korea's education sector.   The majority of Korean students interested in study abroad, often with their parents, employ the services of a study abroad agency to help find a suitable program, prepare for it, and apply for admission.  This pattern persists despite the fact that the activities of study abroad agencies are controversial, both here in South Korea, and in the United States, which is still the single largest destination for Korean students who study abroad.

The source of the controversy about study abroad agencies is succinctly described in a recent article in The Japan Times by Liz Reisberg and Philip G. Altbach of the Center for International Higher Education at Boston University.  In it, they note that "The primary client for agents is the institution that hires them. In order to be successful, they must deliver an acceptable number of students to their sponsoring institutions. Of concern is their activities, source of their fees, propriety of their services and transparency, particularly to students. Many universities suspect that agents sometimes complete applications and write essays for their student clients."


Because most private study abroad agencies accept commissions from schools for delivering student applicants, it is nearly impossible for many of them to provide comprehensive and impartial information about the full range of educational opportunities available in the United States, which is home to by far the largest and most diverse education sector in the world.  Partly for this reason, the U.S. State Department-affiliated network of more than 400 EducationUSA advising centers around the world  all subscribe to a code of ethics in student advising that prohibits them from certain types of work with study abroad agencies.

It should be noted that study abroad agencies in Korea have served a very useful purpose by translating the largely English language materials of U.S. colleges and universities into Korean and interpreting the sometimes complex cluster of admissions tests, essays and other requirements for the prospective students and their parents.  This is a need that will continue, even with continued development of the internet and mobile, digital media networks.   However, as Reisberg and Altbach note, there are alternatives to the private recruitment agents.

The digital information revolution makes possible direct, audio-visual and interactive communication between U.S. schools and prospective students not only in Korea, but throughout Asia.  The emergence of virtual events such as CollegeWeekLive in the United States have broad implications for how U.S. study abroad programs recruit students in Asia.   I will be commenting on some of these in future posts. Comments on the above issues are welcome.

LG Steps up Research Recruitment: Study abroad and Korea's R&D

In our new book on Digital Development in Korea (Routledge, March 2011), Dr. Oh and I devote an entire chapter to the role of education in this nation's remarkable rise from the ashes of the Korean war.  One portion of that chapter deals with the role of study abroad   Today the Joongang Daily carried an article that further underscores some of the points made in our chapter.  As shown in the accompanying graphic (click to see a full size version) the LG Group is stepping up its research recruitment in the United States, and specifically in Silicon Valley.  It sponsored a four-day event called Techno Conference in San Jose, attended by 20 technology executives at LG Electronics, in an effort to promote the company among engineers.  Around 150 Korean students and engineers participated, including those pursuing masters and doctoral degrees at prestigious U.S. universities (such as nearby Stanford U.), along with those working at major IT companies.  About 100 signed up for on-site interviews.

Techno Conference is only the latest in a series of efforts LG has been pursuing to strengthen its R&D capabilities.

Late last month, LG Electronics announced it has signed a memorandum of understanding with 13 major universities in Korea, including Seoul National University, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (Kaist) and Pohang University of Science and Technology.

The Shape of Education for the 21st Century

So far, I'm truly enjoying my new job with the Lyntz Knowledge Group in Seoul.  Working with a larger network of Korean and American colleagues, I'm helping to shape a new business approach to international education.   Our new business model is responsive to two major developments that are transforming education in the early years of this century.

The first of these developments is the information revolution, which features continued convergence of digital media, the rapid global spread of mobile broadband, greater use of video and, of course, social networking.  The IT revolution is changing the character and quality of education, both on-campus and off, while literally breaking down the walls of the traditional campus.

The second major development is the globalization or internationalization of education.  It is characterized by a major increase worldwide in the number of students studying abroad along with major changes in the pattern of student flows among the countries of the world.  East Asia, which has traditionally been a major source for students who study in North America and Europe, is slowly but surely becoming an important destination for study abroad.

Korea fits into this picture in a very interesting way.   South Korea possesses the world's most advanced digital networks, and a tertiary education system that is beginning to draw students from all over Asia and the rest of the world, especially from developing nations.  Its leading colleges and universities all have large numbers of U.S. educated Ph.D.s and many of those schools are aggressively expanding their English language curricula.

The potential for Korea, and for the Northeast Asia region, as an education and research hub, has yet to be realized.  However, it may come sooner than many predict.   NYU has just announced plans to establish a degree-granting campus in Shanghai.  South Korea has ambitious plans for the Global Campus in New Songdo, currently its major effort to attract international schools.

The information revolution, global mobility, and changing patterns of university-industry cooperation and innovation are some of the major factors that will transform education in this century.   This morning I read with interest that Stanford University is one of a larger group of schools that have expressed interest in establishing a campus in New York City! Read the article here.  There was a joke circulating among Stanford graduates about a certain Ivy League school being the "Stanford of the East Coast."  Now there may actually be such a school!  Why not a Stanford of Northeast Asia, situated here on the Korean peninsula between its larger neighbors and ideally positioned for East Asian studies, broadly conceived?

Trends in Study Abroad: China, Korea and the U.S.

Over the weekend I received an interesting alert via Google with some information on the growing number of international students in China.  According to the People's Daily, in 2010 the total number of Chinese studying abroad reached 284,700, with those returning from study abroad numbering 134,800. According to data from the ministry, the number of Chinese students studying abroad and returning home increased by 55,400 and 26,500, respectively.
Students studying abroad at their own expense still account for the majority, followed by personnel sponsored by the government and employees sent by their companies. Data showed from 1978 to 2010, the number of Chinese students studying abroad in all areas reached up to more than 1.9 million, 632,000 of whom returned China.  Although the People's Daily  article did not break down the numbers, quite a few of those Chinese students went to study in the United States, and a sharply increasing number in recent years have come to study at South Korean universities, where a large proportion of the faculty are U.S.-educated.

The article also noted that the number of foreign students studying in China rose to 265,090.  They came from 194 countries around the world, but students from neighboring Asian countries accounted for more than 66 percent of the total.  Of particular note is that South Korea and the U.S. were the top two countries, in that order, in terms of international students in China during 2010.  China's Ministry of Education reportedly is taking steps to optimize the study environment and improve education quality in order to absorb 500,000 international students by the year 2020.

To place the above numbers in the larger global context, data from the accompanying table from a 2004 OECD policy brief are informative.

Student Recruitment by U.S. Colleges in Northeast Asia

An article in The New York Times caught my eye this morning.   It was entitled "Recruiting in China Pays Off for U.S. Colleges," and there are several reasons I was drawn to it.  First, the story centered on recruitment activities by Grinnell College in Iowa, a small liberal arts school with some strong similarities to St. Olaf College in Northfield Minnesota, where I did my undergraduate study.  Second, the story touched on some issues in student recruitment by U.S. colleges and universities in Asia, an area that was a big part of my responsibilities during the years I worked with the Fulbright Commission in Seoul.

Grinnell is just one of countless American colleges and universities that are seeing an increased number of applications from China, given its booming economy.  As the article notes, this comes at a time when many U.S. schools, especially public universities, are experiencing severe financial difficulties and budget cuts.

One of the issues faced in recruitment of students from China also comes into play in recruitment of students from South Korea to study in the U.S.   As the article notes, many Chinese applicants submit glossy color brochures that contain essays written by or with significant assistance from commercial study abroad agencies.  Along with the role of commercial test-preparation agencies in helping to produce high scores on the TOEFL or other English tests, complicates matters for admissions officers and committees at the U.S. colleges and universities.

The article also notes the importance of recruiting tours of China by Grinnell and other colleges.   By providing an opportunity to meet face-to-face with prospective students and their parents, such tours can help to offset the challenges posed by professionally-prepared essays and English test scores that may be somewhat inflated.

One factor not mentioned in the article is the pervasive new role of the internet in international recruitment.  The rapid convergence of digital media around the internet is opening up a new realm of virtual study fairs, live video conferencing and social networking that is literally re-writing the rules of study abroad recruiting.

Another important factor in college and university recruitment strategies has especially strong relevance for the Northeast Asia countries--China, Korea and Japan.   It is what I originally stated , with Korea in mind, as "Larson's Law on Localization."  The law goes as follows:



To effectively promote a school or other educational products and services in Korea, all key promotional information should be translated into Korean and adapted to local media patterns.