China’s job-hungry youth offered lifeline by South Korean university with its ‘exemplary employment-linked model’

A version of this article has also been published by The Korea Times in a partnership with the South China Morning Post.

A vocational college in South Korea is opening its doors to train and ensure employment for international students – more than half of whom are Chinese – to become skilled workers amid nationwide labour shortages.

Seoyeong University in the southwestern city of Gwangju is launching a new associate degree programme exclusively for international students, most of whom are from China and Vietnam, the school’s newly established office of international education said.

And with the labour shortage in South Korea showing no signs of abating amid a growing reliance on foreign workers for its economy to move forward, analysts anticipate the programme would continue to gain traction.

The university is among few schools in South Korea that have partnered with local manufacturers and companies to ensure employment opportunities for international students upon graduation.

It is also the first vocational school that provides help to foreign graduates to obtain work visas, the school added.

In September, the first batch of international students will arrive in Gwangju and take part in a Korean language training programme.

The students who complete the programme in March will then be able to choose to take a two-year employment-oriented course in one of five major subjects.

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The reasons behind China’s high youth unemployment rate

On top of practical Korean language studies, the other courses – industrial engineering, senior welfare, beauty and artificial intelligence (AI) future automotive engineering – are seen as the industries in which South Korea faces the most critical labour shortages.

The AI future automotive