Korean college pioneers employment-focused programs for foreign students amid labor shortages

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GWANGJU — A vocational college in Korea is opening its doors to train and ensure employment for international students, more than half of whom are Chinese, to become skilled workers amid nationwide labor shortages.

With the worker shortage showing no signs of abating amid a growing reliance on foreign workers for Korea’s economy to move forward, experts anticipate these novel employment-oriented college programs designed exclusively to train foreign laborers will continue to gain traction in the future.

Seoyeong University in Gwangju is launching a new associate degree program exclusively for international students, most of whom are from China and Vietnam, the school’s newly established office of international education said.

The university is among very few schools in the country that has partnered with local manufacturers and companies to ensure employment opportunities for international students upon graduation, and it is the first vocational school in the country that provides assistance to foreign graduates in obtaining work visas, the school said.