The dropout rate among international students at South Korea’s four-year universities and junior colleges declined between 2023 and 2025, although some regions continued to report disproportionately high rates, according to data released Sunday by the Korean Educational Development Institute. Some 5.6 percent of international students dropped out of universities and industrial colleges in 2025, falling by 1.25 percentage points from 6.85 percent in 2023. At junior colleges, the rate dropped by 2

South Korea’s Education Ministry plans to step up enforcement against students using smart glasses to cheat on the country’s annual college entrance exam, including by filing criminal complaints or requesting investigations. The ministry said Thursday it is also considering extending the ban on repeat test-takers caught cheating, from one year to up to three years. It will urge universities to adopt similarly strict penalties for their own admissions tests this year. Authorities will assign one

Jeonbuk National University has opened an international center in Uzbekistan to help Uzbek students pursue degrees in Korea and expand academic ties with universities in Central Asia, the university said Wednesday. The JBNU International Center opened Oct. 23 at Renaissance University in Tashkent during a visit by a delegation led by Cho Hwa-rim, JBNU’s head of international affairs. The center will provide admissions information and help prospective students connect with undergraduate and gradu

"This is gochujang, a Korean sauce made with red chili peppers," Kim Ha-jin, a sixth grader at Seoul Beondong Elementary School, said as she scooped a spoonful of the red pepper paste and held it up to her laptop's camera. Although Kim was sitting alongside her classmates, she was speaking to students as far as 5,000 kilometers away at SDIT Al Ihsan Banjarmasin, an Islamic elementary school in South Kalimantan, Indonesia, and Bansei Elementary School in Nara, Japan. Each sixth grader at the Seou

Uzbek government officials and university professors visited semiconductor substrate manufacturer Simmtech in Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province, Tuesday as part of a training program focused on semiconductor packaging and industrial cooperation. The delegation toured the company’s headquarters and production facilities, where Simmtech officials introduced key production processes and explained how its manufacturing lines operate. The visit was arranged by Hoseo University’s Graduate School of

Prescriptions for controlled medications, including the ADHD drug methylphenidate and the anesthetic propofol, were heavily concentrated in Seoul's affluent Gangnam area last year, data showed Monday. According to local daily Kookmin Ilbo, citing data submitted by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety to Democratic Party of Korea Rep. Nam In-soon, Gangnam-gu in southern Seoul recorded the highest volume of methylphenidate prescriptions across Seoul and Gyeonggi Province last year, at about 6.5 mi

Behind each university’s global ambitions are choices about what to preserve, what to develop and where to go next. In “World Class,” The Korea Herald interviews leaders of Korean universities about the strengths they are cultivating and the futures they envision. — Ed. Dongguk University President Yun Jae-woong sees Buddhism, Korean culture and artificial intelligence as the foundations of a distinctive international education — one that gives students a reason to choose Dongguk beyond studying

More than 31,000 foreign students who had been issued either D-2 or D-4 visas were staying in South Korea illegally as of August, government data showed Friday. A total of 31,665 foreign students who had entered Korea on undergraduate or language training visas were in Korea without permission as of August, according to Ministry of Justice data obtained by People Power Party Rep. Kim Hee-jung. Of these, 21,719 had entered on D-4 visas, which are issued for language study, while 9,946 had entered

Eight of South Korea’s 16 provincial-level regions have no dedicated Korean-language classes for high school students from migrant backgrounds, despite the number of students more than doubling over the past four years. Some 15,877 of the country’s 37,660 migrant-background high school students, or 42.2 percent, attend schools in those regions, according to Education Ministry data obtained by Democratic Party of Korea Rep. Han Byung-do. Korean-language classes are specialized programs designed t

The personal information of some 10,000 current and former students as well as faculty members was leaked following a cyberattack on Yonsei University's online portal system. In a notice issued Thursday, Yonsei University's Office of Information and Communications confirmed the breach. Compromised information included student and faculty identification numbers, names, affiliations, mobile phone numbers, email addresses and passwords. The university said it first became aware of the breach around

The number of elementary, middle and high school students who died by suicide in Korea rose 25.8 percent between 2022 and 2025. Another 112 deaths were recorded in the first half of 2026. Education Ministry data disclosed Thursday by Rep. Suh Bum-soo of the People Power Party showed that the annual number rose from 194 in 2022 to 214 in 2023, 221 in 2024 and 244 in 2025. The total reached 985 for the period from 2022 to June 2026. Last year’s deaths included 146 high school students, 92 middle s

The Education Ministry’s new smart glasses rules for this year’s College Scholastic Ability Test, known locally as the Suneung, have drawn criticism from teachers, who say proctors lack clear standards and equipment to identify the devices. The 44-page guidelines, distributed to schools ahead of the Nov. 19 exam, devote about half a page to suspected smart glasses use. Before the test, proctors who suspect a student of wearing such a smart device are instructed to ask the student to remove them

Dongguk University will launch a standalone college exclusively for international students in March 2028, offering six majors and considering an initial intake of roughly 30 to 50 students per major, the university told The Korea Herald on Monday. The college will offer six majors — Hallyu culture, filmmaking, advertising, media, global business, and theater and acting — selected based on an analysis of demand among international students, the university said. Beginning with the March 2028 intak

More university student councils across South Korea are adopting rules against discrimination and hate speech as a comprehensive antidiscrimination bill remains stalled at the National Assembly nearly two decades after it was first proposed. According to local reports, Seoul National University's student council amended its constitution in September to explicitly guarantee students "the right not to be discriminated against." The new provision prohibits discrimination on grounds including gender

Behind each university’s global ambitions are choices about what to preserve, what to develop and where to go next. In “World Class,” The Korea Herald interviews leaders of Korean universities about the strengths they are cultivating and the futures they envision. — Ed. The president of Hankuk University of Foreign Studies sees Songdo as a place to put the university’s decades of expertise in languages and regional studies to work in international education, AI research and industry partnerships