Education authorities are welcoming foreign students' move to form the first state-level association for international students in Korea.

``We have encouraged universities to help foreign students have their own communities and it will be good for us to have a representative group for international students here,'' said Shin Kang-tak, a director at the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology.

``If they want, we can officially request each university in the nation to support their activities and link them with foreign embassies here. We can also consider financial aid if we secure a budget,'' Shin added.

The National Institute for International Education (NIIE), a government agency specialized in promoting education globalization, is also supportive of the association. ``Foreign students here can be Korean ambassadors back in their countries. I believe the central government should provide grants to promote their activity,'' an agency official said.

The NIIE used to offer financial aid to Chinese and Mongolian student communities, however, it is now unable to support them due to budget limitations ― also it has only three staff members to deal with international students. ``The education ministry needs to secure a bigger budget next year to promote Korea through foreign students,'' the official said.

Currently, Korea has some 70,000 foreign students here ― the government aims to attract 100,000 by 2012.

The Seoul National University International Students Association (SISA), the largest group of its kind, plans to visit the education office to outline their plan.

``Foreign students have difficulty in adapting to Korean society and they need a channel through which to submit suggestions so that the government can implement policies for them,'' said Dilshod Gulamov from Uzbekistan, who is a former SISA president. ``With the association, we can establish a foreign students network for better communication with Korean society.''

``It is very meaningful trying to establish a nation-level organization for foreign students in Korea. I think Seoul National University had better to take a lead for the project as it has the largest number of foreign students,'' said Albert Kang, president of the Seoul International Student Forum.

``Many international students want to have various activities and internship programs in Korea after they finish studies here. I hope the association can help them,'' said Kang who is from the U.S. and attending Korea University.

Chinese and Nepalese students also responded positively to the plan. ``We support an organization that represents all international students here and we will discuss more about the plan when we select the new president for our group in March,'' said Wang Yong, a board member of the Chinese Students Association in Korea.

``We hope the association can counsel foreign students over their difficulties and conflicts with Korean students and professors. Also we expect the association to boost our activities here,'' said Prakash Dhamala, vice president of the Society of Nepalese Students in Korea.

Feb. 2, 2009
SNU PR Office