Students attend class at Qingdao Traffic Vocational School in Qingdao, Shandong Province in China, March 13. Seoyeong University and the school in China have established agreements on collaborations and exchanges. Courtesy of Seoyeong University
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.
This September, the first batch of international students will arrive in Gwangju and take part in the Korean language training program, and those who complete it in March 2025 will be able to choose to take the two-year employment-oriented courses in five majors, including practical Korean language studies, industrial engineering, senior welfare, beauty and AI future automotive engineering — mostly industries in which Korea faces critical labor shortages.
HD Hyundai Samho, one of the world's largest shipbuilding companies, will work with the school to develop an employment-linked curriculum reflecting practical knowledge and skills needed in actual duties.
Out of a total of around 10,000 workers at HD Hyundai Samho, about 3,500 are foreign workers, including welders, electricians and plumbers.
The school recently signed a memorandum of understanding with a group of 85 in-house companies under HD Hyundai Samho, under the agreement students can get employed right after acquiring the degree from Seoyeong University.
HD Hyundai Chairman Kwon Oh-gap, center, takes a walk with subcontracted foreign workers at HD Hyundai Heavy Industries' shipyard in Ulsan, March 27. Yonhap
"Graduates who possess proficiency in the Korean language and adaptation skills to Korean society will be able to obtain an E-7 employment visa without the need for practical skills verification," said Joo Seung-wan, the dean of the College of International Education at Seoyeong University.
Korea is grappling with a severe labor shortage amid the backdrop of a shrinking birthrate and a rapidly aging population.
According to Statistics Korea, foreign workers could account for more than 10 percent of the country's entire workforce by 2042, with the total population growing to as much as 2.94 million by 2042.
In 2024, foreign laborers are expected to make up 8.4 percent of the working-age population, more than doubled from 4 percent in 2022, the stats agency said.
As more than half of the new students will be from China, this could be a new area of collaboration between the two neighbors, said Zhang Huizhi, a professor of northeast Asian studies at Jilin University in Northwest China.
"It solves the labor shortage problem in South Korea and could ease China's high youth unemployment by export of labor services," she said.
"It has great prospects; the two countries are complementary."
Chinese schools should also partner with companies to ensure that the trained individuals are employable, she said, adding that both companies and schools need to be more motivated and take more initiative.
Officials from Seoyeong University pose with students at Hengde Vocational School in the city of Weihai, Shandong Province in China, March 11. The university and the school in China have established agreements on collaborations and exchanges. Courtesy of Seoyeong University
In the meantime, China is also grappling with a shortage of skilled blue-collar workers — a structural dilemma coupled with high youth unemployment, as young people opt not to go into factories, despite the often higher wages compared to entry-level office jobs, due to the longstanding perception of factory jobs as inferior.
"Many people would be willing to go [to Korea], the government would not prevent it, but if China wants to retain talents, it has to be more competitive," Zhang said.
Chinese students will also be incentivized to come, as foreign students receive a 30 percent scholarship, making the annual cost around 60,000 ($8,284.32) to 70,000 Chinese yuan, which is not much more than getting an associate degree at home.
"With this program, employment is ensured, and students can get a monthly salary of around 20,000 Chinese yuan upon graduation, as well as an overseas degree; this is much more than what they could get at a factory job in China," said Zhou Yonggang, director at Seoyeong University's China office and in charge of its admissions in China.
Since March, Seoyeong University has paid visits to China's Weihai, Qingdao, Shenyang and Jinan and formed new partnerships with four vocational high schools.
An aerial view of Gwangju shows the historic southwestern city's downtown area. Korea Times photo by Luna Sun
In 2023, Korea had 133 junior colleges — those with a two- or three-year curriculum for technical training courses — according to the Ministry of Education.
About half of them admit international students, but without any guarantee for employment, the employment rate for foreign students is no more than 10 percent.
Seoyeong is among the only five schools that have similar partnerships with companies that ensure employment for students.
Through partnership with vocational colleges, companies are able to secure a stable source of foreign workers equipped with basic communicative competence and job-related skills, said Kim Byeong-su, managing director of Hyundai Samho's 85 in-house companies.
Kim said the companies are able to save time and effort and expect better work processes and more productivity through "the exemplary employment-linked model."
"Most foreign workers are thrown into workplaces without prior training such as Korean language, culture learning courses and vocational training," he said.
"In fact, most of the foreign employees here suffer language barriers and the lack of background knowledge and skills related to their duties, hindering efficient productivity."
Groups of foreign workers wait for buses at Incheon International Airport, in this 2022 July file photo. Yonhap
The majors offered exclusively to foreign students are all catered to industries with severe labor shortages.
According to a report by the Bank of Korea, by 2042, the country is expected to face a shortfall of 1.55 million caretakers to care for older adults, the sick and children due to an aging society.
Industrial engineering majors are trained to be welders at shipyards and steel mills and will be employed at affiliated companies.
According to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, most of the surging new hires in the country's shipbuilding industry are foreign hires — during the first three quarters of last year, new hires in the shipbuilding industry numbered 14,359, with foreign workers accounting for 86 percent, while domestic hires stood at a mere 2,020.
Currently, 16 percent of the country's approximately 93,000 workers in the shipbuilding industry are foreign laborers.
The AI future automotive engineering program will train students to be employed in electric vehicle maintenance while the school's education and training are customized for employment by local Korean businesses.
Luna Sun is an economy reporter with the South China Morning Post. She is currently based in Seoul, reporting for both The Korea Times and the South China Morning Post under an exchange program.