A presidential advisory panel on Monday proposed introducing employment-linked curriculum for foreign students and easing rules on local universities’ overseas operations to help strengthen Korea’s educational competitiveness.

The Presidential Advisory Council on Education, Science and Technology said that the country should enhance the quality of its tertiary education to attract more foreign students and boost exports of its educational content.

These proposals were made as President Lee Myung-bak and the panel held a session at Cheong Wa Dae.

To allow foreign students to land jobs here rather than them returning home after graduation, local universities need to offer job-related programs specifically tailored for them, the panel said.

It also stressed that the country should capitalize on its overseas Korean language educational facilities, such as the King Sejong Institute, to not only teach the Korean language, but also introduce the quality education students can receive at universities in Korea.

Considering that overseas campuses of local universities can play a significant role in promoting Korea’s educational programs and systems, the panel said that regulations on their overseas operations should be relaxed.

Seoul had regulations calling on local universities to meet strict domestic criteria for overseas operations. In February last year, such regulations were loosened to encourage more schools to advance overseas.

The government has been seeking to ease or scrap other rules related to local schools’ overseas operations to help promote Korea’s educational programs.

The number of foreign students attending local universities jumped from around 16,800 in 2004 to more than 93,230 last year. The government expects the figure to rise to 100,000 by the end of this year.

As part of efforts to bolster local graduate schools’ research quality and overall competitiveness, the panel suggested introducing a master’s program specializing in converged fields of studies.

To enhance entrepreneurialism among university students, the panel also proposed introducing a special master-degree program on starting new businesses and providing government aid for the operation of such a program.

To help those who failed to succeed in operating their start-ups, it suggested offering psychological treatment and credit-management education, and helping them get another shot at life.

By Song Sang-ho (sshluck@heraldcorp.com)