SOUTH KOREA: Universities to set up overseas campuses

Students may in future be able to enrol at a local university in South Korea and study both at home and abroad using its overseas campuses, writes Bae Ji-sook for The Korea Times. This month the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology gave prior notice of a law revision that would enable domestic universities to more easily establish branches abroad.

The revision, if approved by the national assembly, would come into effect on 1 January 2011. Doors would open wider to universities seeking to globalise by attracting world-class professors who are reluctant relocate to Korea, as well as attract high-level Korean and foreign students.

Under the current law, it is difficult for Korean universities to establish branches, institutes or other facilities overseas as the law makes it mandatory for institutions to secure a certain size of real estate for the campus and relevant facilities as well as a certain number of professors. Since the legislation was created in 1996, not a single university has set up a branch outside Korea. The revision allows universities to lease real estate and reduces the mandatory number of professors and the amount of money for permanent property.
Full report on The Korea Times site