September 22, 2025
SEOUL – More than half of international students pursuing degrees at South Korean universities lack the Korean or English proficiency needed to follow their coursework, raising concerns over the country’s push to attract overseas students without adequate support systems.
Data released by the Ministry of Education on Friday revealed that only about one-third, or 34 percent, of degree-seeking international students in 2024 had reached Level 4 or higher on the official Korean language proficiency exam known as TOPIK.
That level is considered the minimum required to read and understand newspaper articles or standard academic texts.
The numbers are even lower for those submitting English credentials. Just 11 percent of foreign national students submitted a qualifying TOEFL iBT score of 59 or above, equivalent to about 500 on the TOEIC scale, which represents a basic grasp of English.
Taken together, this means nearly 80,000 students (more than half of the 145,757 foreign national students enrolled in university or graduate programs) may not have sufficient language skills in either Korean or English to keep up with their studies.
While Korean universities are encouraged to recommend language proficiency benchmarks — TOPIK Level 3 for entry and Level 4 before graduation — these are not legally required. This means that schools can accept students without testing their Korean or English skills.
A Ministry of Education official explained that universities have discretion over admissions, but added that the government does restrict student visa issuance for institutions that bring in too many underqualified students.
South Korea’s universities are under increasing financial pressure. With the local college-age population shrinking and tuition fees frozen for over a decade, many have turned to international students to offset falling revenue.
In August 2023, the Education Ministry launched its “Study Korea 300K” strategy to attract 300,000 international students by 2027. As part of that policy, language requirements for admissions were relaxed further. Instead of standardized test scores, students can submit certificates from Korean language institutes, even if their actual fluency remains low.
That shift appears to have contributed to a sharp rise in foreign enrollment. Between 2014 and 2024, the number of international students pursuing degrees in Korea nearly tripled, from about 53,000 to more than 145,000.
Some professors and students are already feeling the consequences. One professor at a private university in Seoul told Korean media that “group projects had to be eliminated from courses because Korean students were reluctant to collaborate with classmates who lacked language skills.”
Longer-term concerns are also emerging about the impact of relaxed admissions on the reputation and quality of Korea’s higher education system.
Han Ji-eun, a senior researcher at Konkuk University’s Migration and Social Integration Research Center, published a report in September 2024 warning that the government’s 300K plan “remains an expedient response to financial pressure” and lacks concrete solutions to improve the academic performance or integration of foreign students.
Statistics Korea reported in 2023 that only 35 percent of international graduates planned to seek employment in Korea, and 40 percent did not intend to stay in the country after graduation.
Lawmaker Jin Sun-mi, who requested the Education Ministry’s data, said the numbers make clear that policy reforms are urgently needed.
“There is a clear need to strengthen entry criteria and provide expanded support so that foreign students can succeed academically, not just numerically fill seats,” Jin said.
mjh@heraldcorp.com