Exchange project doubles EU students in Korea

Published 19/08/2015

An international student exchange programme between institutions in Korea and the EU has doubled the number of students it has sent to study in Korea in the last 12 months.

Forty students from EU countries studied in Korea in 2014/15 through the Korea and EU Degree Opportunities for Students programme. The 100% increase in outbound students flouts the stereotype of some European students lacking interest in study abroad, participants say.

“Historically, the reputation of UK universities has been that students are not interested in studying abroad – but this project has shown that for us, it’s completely the opposite”

Set up in 2012 to facilitate a ‘25%’ dual degree framework – where one year out of a four year degree is spent abroad – the programme is backed by 1.1bn won (€790,000) in funding from EU and the National Research Foundation of Korea.

Seven universities are participating in the project including Warsaw University of Technology and the University of Warsaw in Poland and the University of Ljubljana in Slovenia, which is organised by Kyungpook National University in Korea and led by Budapest University of Technology and Economics in Hungary.

Focussed on graduate employability, the programme enables students to work and study simultaneously.

“Choosing to go to Korea says something very different about you,” commented Alison Pearce, project manager at Northumbria University.

“For students who have taken part, subsequent interviews always tend to be dominated by questions about their experience of Korea.”

Northumbria is a partner in the project, enabling students to spend a full year at either KNU in Daegu or Chonnam National University in Gwangju in order to obtain degrees from both institutions they attend.

“Historically, the reputation of UK universities has been that students are not interested in studying abroad – but this project has shown that for us, it’s completely the opposite,” said Pearce.

“It’s not just about students going over there to study; they have to adjust to a very challenging – and at times – alien environment and culture.”

At the beginning of the project, it was predicted that 180 Korean and EU students will benefit from the initiative, which will run until 2016.

An additional 13 Korean and 20 EU faculty members will spend time overseas over the course of the project.

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