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

Students from all around the world in the American colleges and universities.  
As previously stated, there were 764,495 international students in the United States in the 
academic year 2011-2012 (Institute of International Education (IIE), 2012).  The majority 
of the international students who come to the United States to acquire their degrees from 
colleges and universities have many chances to meet diverse students from all around the 
world.  The purpose of studying in the U.S. higher education institutions for international 
students is not only to learn the advanced academic knowledge through their college and 
university courses, but also to have numerous and multicultural experiences among 
international students and American students.  
The University of Southern California (USC) (2011) had the highest number of 
international students in American colleges and universities, those following were: the 
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, New York University (NYU), Purdue 
University, and Columbia University based on the academic year 2010-11 (IIE, 2012).  

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Interestingly, USC hosted 8,615 international students, and they came from 125 different 
nationalities from all around the world (University of Southern California, 2012).  The 
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the second largest hosting American college 
and university, had “8,057 international students in 2011 from 115 countries” (University 
of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2012, “International Programs and Studies”).  
According to IIE, the numbers of international students in the three campuses were as 
follows: NYU had 7,988 international students; Purdue University had 7,562 
international students; and Columbia University had 7,297 international students (IIE, 
2012).   
As illustrated above, these top five hosting American colleges and universities 
have the majority of international students attending there, and they may enjoy taking 
classes and having a great time with a variety of international students from many 
different regions and countries.  Therefore, this factor may cause Korean students to want 
to come to the U.S. higher education institutions, meet a diversity of international 
students and American students, and have intercultural environments and experiences 
through all U.S. higher education institutions.  Especially, those five popular hosting U.S. 
colleges and universities are good examples of the reason Korean students are coming to 
the United States.