It is sheer nonsense to have a foreign student return home with a bitter memory of or even antagonism toward the country where he or she studied for years. Regretful to say, it seems to be what happens in Korea.

A string of surveys of foreign students here have shown that many of them feel dissatisfied with their school life. In a poll of 1,200 Chinese students, conducted by a commission under the Prime Minister’s Office in 2010, about 40 percent said they came to have anti-Korean sentiment during their stay in the country. There is no point trying to attract foreign students only to hear from them that they want to move to another country as soon as possible and they will prevent their siblings or friends from coming to study in Korea.

Partly on the back of its growing economic and cultural influence on the global stage, Korea has seen a rising influx of students from China and other foreign nations. The number of foreign students studying in universities and other institutions of higher learning here jumped from 22,526 in 2005 to 86,878 last year, according to figures from the Education Ministry. Students from China accounted for 63.8 percent of the total, followed by Japan with 4.71 percent, the U.S. with 3.07 percent and Vietnam at 2.82 percent.

The sharp rise in their number is also attributable to efforts by universities here to fill the decreasing enrollment of native students with foreign entrants. The Education Ministry has also encouraged local schools to attract more students from abroad under a support program named the Study Korea Project.

But government and university officials have been negligent in helping enrolled foreign students follow course work and adapt to their new school life. As this paper has noted, a set of effective and tailored measures should be taken to ensure they achieve a meaningful accomplishment from spending part of the most precious time in their life. A substantial mentoring program should be made easily available, with faculties having to pay more attention to helping resolve their difficulties with study and everyday life. It is also necessary to provide them with more scholarships and opportunities to gain jobs at Korean companies after graduation.

If necessary, requirements for admission, including Korean language skills, should be strengthened to a proper degree to reduce the number of foreign students who drop out of school and become illegal workers.

The time spent studying here must serve to brighten their future and build a global network of talented people friendly to Korea.