South Korea’s population has been declining since 2020, leading to concerns over an increasingly severe labor shortage in the future. To mitigate the impact, the government is responding to foreign talent, particularly international students familiar with Korean culture.
The number of international students majoring in information and communication technology (IT) or engineering, which are valuable to the domestic industry, is increasing, and the percentage of international students who want to settle in Korea after graduation is also rising. Government policies have given the green light.
According to the Korea Labor Institute, as of June 23, the number of international students in South Korea rose to 187,856 in 2023, up from 136,995 in 2020 and 98,602 in 2017. These students are predominantly majoring in humanities and social sciences, including social sciences (28.8%), Korean studies (20.6%), education, arts and humanities (17.2%), and language training (14.9%). However, there has been a notable increase in the number of those studying IT and engineering. The number of students in these fields grew by 23% over three years, from 14,813 in 2017 to 21,984 in 2023. In 2023, It and engineering majors comprised 11.7% of all international students.
A significant portion of these students express a desire to remain in South Korea after graduation. In 2023, 65% of IT and engineering majors wished to settle in the country, up from 33% in 2017 to 50% in 2020.
Korean corporations are increasingly recruiting international student talent. Notably, Samsung Group, including Samsung Electronics and Samsung BioLogics, conducted the ‘Recruitment of Foreign Experienced Employees in Research and Development’ programs in the latter half of last year and the first half of this year. These programs target international students with master’s and doctoral degrees from South Korean universities, offering career opportunities separately from their Korean counterparts. Proficiency in Korean, at least level 3 of the Test of Proficiency in Korean (TOPIK), is a prerequisite for these roles.
The South Korean government has implemented policies to harness international student talent as part of its strategy to address the population decline. The ‘Plan for Rational Management of Foreign Workforce,’ released on June 20, includes provisions for granting residence (F-2) visas to graduates from specialized science and technology institutions, with the potential for permanent residence or naturalization based on research performance.
Recognizing South Korea as a multicultural and multiracial country, the OECD notes that the number of foreigners living in South Korea reached 2.63 million, or 5.1% of the total population, by early this year. This marks a significant increase from 2.58 million at the end of last year, meeting the OECD’s criteria for a multicultural society, which classifies a country as multicultural and multiracial if the migrant population exceeds 5% of the total population.
