The number of foreign students in Korea has gradually increased in recent years, and the growth trend has been more pronounced for foreign graduate students in particular. The influx of foreign students into Korea has the advantages of enhancing the n...
The number of foreign students in Korea has gradually increased in recent years, and the growth trend has been more pronounced for foreign graduate students in particular. The influx of foreign students into Korea has the advantages of enhancing the national brand, promoting economic benefits, and internationalization of universities. Still, if the management of foreign students fails to keep up with the trend, it may lead to problems such as maladjustment to study abroad life and dropout. In particular, the dropout rate of foreign students at Korean universities has been increasing every year since 2012. Yet there is still a lack of research on the dropout of foreign students, and the situation of foreign graduate students, who experience a different university life from that of foreign undergraduates, is no exception. In light of this changing environment and the need for international student management, this study explored the factors affecting the institutional level of dropout among foreign graduate students in Korea. In turn, it will provide basic information for the development of educational countermeasures to mitigate the phenomenon of dropout among foreign graduate students.
To this end, the following research questions were set for this study. First, what is the level of foreign graduate students' dropout rate in Korea? Second, are there differences in the dropout rate of foreign graduate students by institutional characteristics (location, type of establishment, type of graduate school)? Third, what are the institutional-level factors that affect the dropout rate of foreign graduate students?
For the analysis, we used 176 graduate schools (including branches but excluding graduate colleges) for which information on foreign graduate student dropout rates was available in the 2022 Higher Education Statistics and University Information Disclosure provided by Edudata Service. Data were analyzed using the SPSS 27.0 program for descriptive statistics, independent sample t-test, one-way ANOVA, and hierarchical regression analysis.
The results of the study are as follows. First, the average level of dropout rate of foreign graduate students in Korea was 9.7%, which was much higher than the dropout rate of all graduate students (6.23%) and the dropout rate of Korean graduate students (6.8%). Second, the dropout rate of foreign graduate students in specialized graduate schools is much higher and statistically significant than that of general and professional graduate schools. Third, at the level of institutional characteristics, we found that foreign graduate student attrition is higher in public institutions than in private universities, that general graduate schools have a lower foreign graduate student dropout rate than specialized graduate schools, and that larger schools have a lower foreign graduate student dropout rate. At the level of internationalization characteristics, only the international student diversity variable in the student sector has a statistically significant effect, with a negative relationship between higher international student diversity and lower foreign graduate student dropout rates.
Based on these findings, this study recommends that not only should international students be supported to form a diverse community, but also that institutions can actively promote various and efficient information within the international student community, including curriculum-related information, academic information, services, and programs offered, and useful websites. It was also suggested that it is important to ensure diversity in international student recruitment by recruiting international students from as many different countries, regions, or cultures as possible rather than focusing on a single country or region, and that it is necessary to create a foreigner-friendly campus environment to increase international students' sense of belonging and intention to continue their studies in Korean universities.