Busan introduces initiatives to attract more international students

Busan Mayor Park Heong-joon, center, discusses the city's Study Busan 30K project at the Busan City Hall in Yeonje District, Busan, on Thursday. [BUSAN METROPOLITAN GOVERNMENT]

Busan aims to host more international students by creating new scholarships and internship opportunities, also aiming to ease visa regulations to help students continue to reside after graduation.

The city announced on March 11 its plans to have 30,000 international students residing in the city by 2028, compared to the current 13,000. Naming the plan the Study Busan 30K Project, the city added two more goals it plans to achieve.

The plans were discussed at a city meeting held Thursday.

One of the new goals is to have 30 percent of its international students majoring in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) by 2028, compared to the current 12 percent.

Another goal is to have at least 40 percent of its university graduates successfully transition into working visas or job-seeker visas, compared to the current 22 percent.

To do so, the city announced it will be creating various benefits for students.

One is the Global Busan Scholarship, which will be created in the second half of this year.

The scholarship will be awarded to six students this year, offering them around 4 million won ($2,970) each to cover their living expenses and flight costs.

The city will announce application procedures in the future.

Busan will also connect local companies in shipbuilding and manufacturing with talented international students at Busan-based universities, offering internships and career-training programs.

A Study in Busan Center, which will offer Korean classes, visa consultations, and additional help to Busan students, will be created in 2025. The city aims to open more centers throughout the city in the future.

Busan will work with universities in the city to hold university fairs in Japan and Vietnam to offer more information to students who want to come to study.

Busan also aims to ease career-related visa policies, saying it will make many suggestions to the government.

The D-10 visa, also known as the job-seeker's visa, currently allows foreign nationals to intern for up to six months at each company. If visa holders want to intern for more than six months, they need to find an internship at another company.

Busan hopes to allow D-10 visa holders in the city to intern for up to a year at each company, encouraging long-term stays and opportunities to experience work in more depth.

The city also hopes to allow residents in more districts to be eligible for the F-2-R regional specialized residency visa.

The F-2-R visa allows foreigners to reside in Korea for five years but requires them to live and work in areas designated by the government. Those living and working in the city's Seo District, Dong District and Yeongdo District can currently apply for the visa, and the city will request more areas to be given the benefit.

"The declining student population and crises that universities face will also affect the regions the universities are in, so it's important for local governments, universities and local businesses to work together to find solutions for the decreasing population," said Park Heong-joon, mayor of Busan. "We aim to make Busan an ideal city to study abroad in based on the discussed plans."

BY LEE TAE-HEE [lee.taehee2@joongang.co.kr]