Struggling South Korean universities should tap into the Indian market

South Korea, home to globally recognised technological brands such as Samsung, LG and Hyundai, has long enjoyed a strong relationship with India.

This relationship was reinforced in 2009 by the signing of the comprehensive economic partnership agreement, South Korea’s first free-trade agreement with one of the emerging economic powerhouses known as the BRICs, and was upgraded in 2015 to a “special strategic partnership” that has led to enhanced cooperation across myriad sectors, including foreign affairs, defence, trade and investment, science and technology, and culture.

With India’s substantial manpower and economic potential and South Korea's innovative high-tech industry, there is significant potential for symbiotic relationships. However, despite bilateral initiatives to expand collaboration between higher education institutions in the two countries, student and faculty exchange has fallen short of expectations.

Data from South Korea’s Ministry of Education indicates that just 1,328 Indian students were studying in South Korean higher education in 2022 – just 0.8 per cent of the total international student population (166,892) in the country and less than 0.2 per cent of India’s vast 750,000-strong student diaspora – projected to rise to roughly 1.8 million in the coming years.

Still, this is up from less than 500 in 2008 and is particularly significant to South Korea given that of those Indian students 50 per cent are enrolled in doctoral programmes, and another 21 per cent in master’s degrees, mostly in STEM fields. Indian engineers are already a familiar presence at the Samsung industrial complex in Suwon, one of the large satellite cities of Seoul, and the Indo-Korea Science and Technology Center, under the umbrella of the Korea Institute of Science and Technology, is a high-profile employer of Indian researchers. The Indian embassy’s website lists more than 15 Indian professors as points of contact for Indian students seeking to connect directly with Indian scholars in South Korea.

As India’s own university system continues to struggle to provide the capacity and quality to meet the ambitions of the country’s young talent, it makes enormous sense for South Korean universities to strategically explore the Indian market. This is all the more so because South Korean universities face an existential threat from demographic decline in their domestic student market as the country grapples with the world's lowest fertility rate – which also has serious implications for the Korean economy. Chinese students account for nearly 40 per cent of all international students in South Korea, but their numbers have plateaued, while South Korean student numbers in China have dropped drastically, from 73,240 in 2017 to 16,968 in 2022, amid bilateral tensions over defence and trade, among other things.

But more needs to be done to stimulate educational cooperation – and, specifically, student flows – between South Korea and India. Indeed, flows from the former to the latter have been in steep decline. About 15 years ago, India hosted more than 1,000 South Korean students. However, recent data from the Ministry of Education indicates that there were just 29 students reportedly enrolled at Indian higher education institutions in 2022. A report published by the Korea Institute for International Economic Policy in 2010 suggested that some South Koreans perceived India as “unsafe”, “underdeveloped” and “old-fashioned”. It is unclear whether that remains true, but South Koreans still tend to be attracted only by India’s English-speaking elite engineering and science schools.

As for Indians in South Korea, I contend that South Korea needs to develop strong programmes not only to attract more of them but also to keep them engaged in the nation's economy and technology by providing post-degree job opportunities and suitable visa options. By doing so, South Korea will be able to deal with its demographic shock effectively, in line with the government‘s recently announced move to attract a more international population.

India is often referred to as the “Nation of Mystery” in South Korea, indicating the wealth of undiscovered opportunities it offers. It is time that South Korean universities started to dispel some of that mystery and turn it into solutions for Indians and South Koreans alike.

Kyuseok Kim (Mick) is a PhD student at Korea University, specialising in higher education administration. He has more than 13 years of experience in international higher education, having held positions at both a research university and a US branch campus in South Korea.