International students in Korea: If you are careless, you will... escape.
(Baonghean) - Studying abroad in Korea is increasingly being chosen by many Vietnamese students in general and Nghe An students in particular. However, for many different reasons, many international students, instead of studying abroad, choose to work outside and deliberately deny all related responsibilities.
"Single loss, double loss"
In 2018, Thai Thi T was one of the students who received a scholarship to study abroad at Daegutech University in Korea through a brokerage company. When she first arrived, like many other students, T often communicated with the brokerage company's staff in Vietnam about work, study and daily life.
However, just a short time after the winter break, Thai Thi T suddenly stopped contacting the company, although T still received the messages the company sent via mobile phone and personal page. After this incident, the company also visited T's family in Hoa Son commune (Do Luong) many times to discuss but without results. At the time T cut off contact, this international student had almost finished her foreign language course and would soon become an official student of the school and receive a scholarship.
 |
| Language training for students preparing to study abroad in Korea. Photo: My Ha |
Previously, Nguyen Xuan H was also an international student who caused the brokerage company to suffer because he ran away after enrolling at Kangwon University. During his studies, H briefly asked to go home to get married and then returned to Korea. However, not long after arriving, H voluntarily dropped out of school and cut off contact with the company, and was then forced to return to his country while "living illegally" in the neighboring country.
Although the company has thoroughly investigated the background of students before going to study abroad, the cases of students running away still occur and most of them are not contacted by the company afterwards. For the company, the cases of students running away greatly affect the company's operations such as reputation and the psychology of students staying. Moreover, the partners, the universities, will cut off cooperation if there is a case of a student dropping out of school.
Regarding this issue, Ms. Trinh Thi Huyen - General Director of a study abroad company in Vinh City said: “Currently, the main trend of Nghe An is for students to study abroad in medium-sized markets, mainly the Korean market. This is understandable, because Korea's policy of accepting Vietnamese students is quite easy and currently 80% of students study abroad on a direct visa (no interview required). These advantages lead to other difficulties, which is that international students run away and sadly this situation is happening more and more.
In our company alone, in the past 3 years, there have been 5 cases of absconding, including 3 international students studying at the company’s “exclusive” school. In many cases, even though the parents and students had made commitments at home, they absconded when they arrived in Korea. As for the company itself, after the absconding, we have no plan to handle it. Meanwhile, on the Korean partner side, they do not care how Vietnamese companies bind students. However, if students abscond, Vietnamese companies must take full responsibility and they are willing to terminate cooperation with us.
There needs to be binding sanctions.
Regarding the issue of students running away, Ms. Trinh Thi Huyen also said: “In the past two years, the Korean study abroad market has become a potential market. But in the long run, this market will become increasingly difficult due to the impact of students running away. In fact, if in 2018, Vietnam had 70 Korean schools accepting international students, now there are only 30 schools left.”
 |
| Consulting for international students before studying abroad in Korea. Photo: My Ha |
In order to manage runaway international students, recently, companies have also proposed many solutions such as promoting propaganda work; pointing out the consequences and risks when international students run away.
Ms. Le Thi Minh - Chief Representative of a company in Nghe An shared: "The most difficult thing is still to propagate and mobilize students to see the consequences of dropping out of school. We also advise students that when they decide to study abroad, they need to be determined because the Korean government has many policies for international students with good foreign languages and a diploma. If they run away, they will face many risks such as being deported back to their home country, not having many job opportunities... Currently, to limit international students from dropping out of school, the company also requires that in the first 6 months, students must stay in dormitories for easy management and not be "lured" to work too much outside."
“Before students leave the country, we always require parents and students to make a commitment. But that is only a commitment on paper, and sanctions are limited. If we require families to leave documents as “mortgage” or “deposit”, it is not in accordance with the law...”
 |
| Consulting and introducing new jobs for workers after the news that the Korean market has temporarily stopped accepting workers. Photo: Nguyen Hai |
Currently, in Nghe An province, there are nearly 1,300 students studying abroad each year, and 80% of them are in the Korean and Japanese markets. The situation of students running away not only affects companies with students but also affects many other students who intend to study abroad and further has a negative impact on the labor export market.
“The trend of studying abroad in the province is increasing and this is an opportunity to improve the capacity and quality of the labor force. However, to study abroad in a real way, we need to promote orientation so that students can choose the right school and the right career. Along with that, we need to strengthen training in foreign language certificates, culture, customs and practices. We also direct units that have been licensed to operate study abroad consulting in the area to comply with the law and fulfill their responsibilities as study abroad consulting service organizations. In case of unfortunate incidents, we must proactively coordinate with relevant agencies to protect the legitimate rights and policies of students studying abroad and be responsible for coordinating to resolve problems and risks during the implementation of the contract. In addition, we encourage units to implement study abroad programs with scholarships to attract more capable and qualified students and improve the quality of international students.”