Understanding the Importance of English Education in South Korea and Exploring the Reasons Why South Korean Students Come to a University in the Midwest

Variety of institutions: Liberal art colleges, women’s colleges, universities, 
colleges, and community colleges.  Korean students may come to American colleges and 
universities because of the variety of choices of the U.S. higher education institutions.  
The U.S. higher education has different types of institutions: liberal arts colleges, 

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women’s colleges, private non-profit universities and colleges, private profit universities 
and colleges, public universities and colleges, and community colleges.  Due to the many 
different types of U.S. higher education, Korean students can choose U.S. colleges and 
universities flexibly based upon the preferred academic programs.  In 2009, the total 
number of U.S. higher education institutions was 4,495: 4 year institutions were 2,774 
and 2 year institutions were 1,721 (U.S. Census Bureau, 2012).  Furthermore, Table 1 
illustrates that international students choose certain programs in the United States, such 
as Research/Doctoral, Master’s, Bachelor’s, Special-Focus, and 2-year, depending on the 
type of U.S. higher educational institutions (Chronicle, 2010).  
 
Table 1 
Racial Representation Among American College Students, by Type of Institution 
 
Public/Private Institutions 
Research/Doctoral 
Master’s 
Bachelor’s 
Special-Focus 
2-year 
All Races Total 
5,211,700 
4,042,159 
2,043,632 
449,540 
7,250,698 
Nonresident Alien 
885,989 
(17%) 
242,530 
(6%) 
102,182 
(5%) 
44,954 
(10%) 
290,028 
(4%) 
 
Note: Percentages are rounded. Figures include full-and part-time undergraduate and graduate students. 
Source: Chronicle analysis of U.S Education Department Data 
 
As shown in Table 1, in 2010, 17% of students (885,989) enrolled in the research 
and doctoral based programs in the United States were international students, and 6% of 
students (242,530) pursuing master degrees were international students.   Furthermore, 5% 
students (102,182) who graduated with their bachelor’s degrees were international 
students.  There were 4% of students (290,028) who went to two-year colleges, like 

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community colleges, who were international students, and they may come to four years 
colleges and universities after finishing at their two-year colleges.  
Interestingly, there were 10% of students (44,954) who studied in the subject of 
special-focus who were international students, and this shows that this figure is the lowest 
population of the total public and private institutions.  According Table 1, international 
students may come to the U.S. higher education institutions to earn professional 
experiences through the research labs and the Ph.D., the certificates or the licenses, the 
master degrees, the bachelor degrees, and the associate degrees in that order of popularity.  
As previously stated, approximately 4,500 American colleges and universities are 
spread out around the United States.  This number is quite huge for one single country 
because Korea has fewer colleges and universities than the American higher educational 
institutions.  In Korea, “Today there are some 376 official [Higher Educational] 
institutions that support 3.7m students and 60,000+ academic staff” stated Parry (2011, 
para. 3).  The total number of South Korean colleges and universities is approximately 
376, and the American higher education institutions have 4,124 more than Korean 
colleges and universities.  In other words, Korean students have fewer opportunities to 
find appropriate academic programs in their home country than in the American higher 
education system.  Therefore, this circumstance may make many Korean students decide 
to study in the American higher education institutions.   
 
 
 

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