South Korea: Highly competitive

South Korea has experienced a spectacular expansion of higher education.

The Korean educational system has undergone a series of reforms and the Korean universities have expanded rapidly since 1970. In fact, the number of students and professors in four-year universities have increased 11 times and seven times between 1970 and 1999 respectively. Focusing on higher education, the Ministry of Education launched Brain Korea 21(BK21), a human resource development program, which targets seven important areas in science and technology necessary to enhance national competitiveness in the 21st century. Incidentally, biotechnology, which encompasses agriculture, medical science and environment, is the first target area selected for program implementation. The South Korean government has recently allocated the second round of funding for the 'Brain Korea' 21 (BK21) project, allocating $2 billion over seven years to strengthen further the country's post-graduate competitiveness. For 1.6 million students approximately 184 million dollars are presently being invested in the public and private four-year Korean universities.

Universities and institutes

The Seoul National University (SNU) is amongst the leaders of higher education in Korea and is known for its quality graduates. The founding of SNU in 1946 marked the opening of the first national university in modern Korean history. Besides SNU, some other premier universities and institutes offering life sciences courses in Korea include Korea Basic Science Institute, Korea Institute of Science and Technology, Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology, Andong National University, Cheju National University, Chonnam National University, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology , Kwangju Institute of Science and Technology, Phohang University of Science and Technology, Sunchon National University, Suwon University, University of Seoul, and Yonsei University.

Scholarships

International students have attractive chances of being awarded scholarships. The Ministry of Education offers a scholarship program for foreign students from countries that have concluded a bilateral cultural agreement with Korea. A few other outside scholarships include Korea Foundation Fellowship for Graduate Studies; Korea-Japan Cultural Association Scholarship; and the Overseas Korean Foundation Scholarship. Besides, most of the Korean universities also provide scholarships for international students. The Seoul National University offers SNU Tuition Scholarship in addition to a limited number of work scholarships by the individual departments or professors. There are two types of work scholarship opportunities available-Teaching Assistant (TA) and Research Assistantships (RA), where the students receive a partial tuition waiver as well as a monthly stipend.

Rolly Dureha