A total of 700 foreign students from 142 countries will be given opportunities to study in local universities via this year's government-sponsored scholarship program, a state-run organ on international education said Wednesday.

The National Institute for International Education, affiliated with the Education Ministry, unveiled the list of students receiving scholarships under the Global Korea Scholarship program aimed at securing an outstanding potential workforce and expanding a global human network. Since 1967, South Korea has so far invited 7,425 foreign scholarship students from 150 countries to local universities.

Out of the 700 students subject to the program, 35 percent are from Asia, 27 percent are from Europe and 16 percent are from Africa. The most students from a single country are Indonesian with 23, followed by 22 Chinese students and 22 Vietnamese. Divided up by area of study, 55 percent of them are in the humanities and social sciences, 42 percent in engineering, and 3 percent in music and sports.

Under the program, they are to learn the Korean language for one year before enrolling in graduate courses at 56 universities to earn master's and doctoral degrees. (Yonhap)