Regional disparities found in regions like Seoul, Gyeonggi Province
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 2.79 percentage points over the same period, from 10.02 percent to 7.23 percent.
Dropout rates measure the proportion of enrolled students who leave their institutions through voluntary withdrawal, failure to register or failure to return from a leave of absence.
KEDI attributed the decline partly to the Education Ministry’s monitoring of visa overstay and dropout rates under its International Education Quality Assurance System.
As part of the IEQAS, universities are assessed on international student recruitment and management, academic and living support, language proficiency and dropout rates. Universities deemed to lack international education capacities could face restrictions, including visa issuance restrictions.
The institute also cited expanded Korean-language education, living support and career counseling services for international students as contributing factors.
Seoul, Gyeonggi schools' international dropout rate rise
Despite the nationwide decline, KEDI noted that dropout rates remained high in certain regions.
In Seoul and Gyeonggi Province, the dropout rate among international students at four-year universities rose from 5.9 percent in 2023 to 6.2 percent in 2025. The region was also the only one where the international student dropout rate exceeded that of the overall student population at four-year universities.
Gangwon Province continued to record a particularly high dropout rate among international students at junior colleges. Although the rate fell by 5.7 percentage points, from 25.2 percent in 2023 to 19.5 percent in 2025, it remained well above the 12.7 percent recorded among the overall junior college student population in the province.
“Continued academic support must be strengthened, taking into account the circumstances of regions with high dropout rates,” a KEDI official said.
Sunday’s data also showed a substantial increase in international student enrollment at South Korean higher education institutions between 2017 and 2025.
The number of international students enrolled in four-year universities rose from approximately 90,000 in 2017 to 153,500 in 2025. Enrollment at junior colleges increased by roughly 500 percent, from 6,200 to 37,300 over the same period.
The nationality composition of international students also shifted considerably during the eight-year period, with institutions becoming less reliant on students from China.
At four-year universities, the proportion of Chinese students among international enrollees fell from 59.9 percent in 2017 to 29.2 percent in 2025, while the shares of students from Vietnam, Uzbekistan, Mongolia, Nepal and Myanmar increased.
At junior colleges, Vietnamese students accounted for 60 percent of all international students in 2025, up from 44.9 percent in 2017. Meanwhile, the proportion of Chinese students plunged from 34.4 percent to just 2.6 percent.
seungku99@heraldcorp.com
