The popularity of Korean music, films and stars has risen at astronomical speeds in recent years, raising the profile of Korea as a travel destination and driving a rapid increase in the number of students choosing to study here. With people around the world listening to K-pop on their Korean smartphones and watching Korean dramas on their Korean TVs, it shouldn’t come as a big surprise that a growing generation of students are also looking to Korea to complete their academic journey.

There were 152,281 international students in Korea in 2021, when the most recent data was collected, up by 7 percent from 2018. While that increase in the number of students stalled during the Covid-19 pandemic, it has picked back up again in the last year and is expected to continue growing. With so many students interested in Korea, universities are also working hard to adapt to this new student body, offering entire degree programs in English or including language training in their programs.

Studying abroad in Korea offers more than just the bright neon lights of Seoul so often seen in films and dramas. Korea has a long, rich history and there’s plenty to see and do, whether your university of choice is in central Seoul or out in the countryside.

Korea is a small country, crossable in just a few hours by bus or train, opening up a range of options for prospective students, whether you want to live in the middle of a throbbing metropolis or out in the sticks but with all the commodities of the big city still close by. It’s also exceptionally mountainous, so outdoorsy students never need to worry that they’re more than an hour away from a good, challenging hike.

Korea attracts students from all over the world, creating diverse student bodies home to a range of cultures and beliefs. The chance to enter this giant melting pot of opinions and ideas is one of the unique benefits of student life in Korea.