Journal of Contemporary Eastern Asia, Volume 12, No.1: 35-47 http://dx.doi.org/10.17477/jcea.2013.12.1.035 Government Policy and Internationalisation of Universities: The Case of International Student Mobility in South Korea 1 Ki-Seok Kwon 2 During the last a few decades, internationalisation of universities has emerged as an important issue not only in developed countries but in developing countries. South Korea as a fast catch-up country has experienced a remarkable change in its higher education system. This change is largely related to the South Korean government’s higher education policy and to economic de- velopmental stages. Against this backdrop, in order to assess the internationalisation of Korean higher education, we focus on international student mobility rather than other criteria such as infrastructure or programmes for international students and faculties. According to the recent statistics, the number of inbound foreign students involved in Korean higher education has in- creased significantly since 2005. Nevertheless, compared to other OECD and Asian countries, the number of outbound students in Korean higher education is high, whereas the number of in- bound foreign students in higher education in Korea is very low. Against these observations, Ko- rean government’s recent policies and efforts of Korean universities to improve internationaliza- tion are discussed. Finally, some policy implications are put forward. Introduction Along with the powerful socio-economic forces of globalization, the internationalisation of high- er education has been gaining momentum during the last few decades. According to Knight (2005), this internationalisation involves the integration of research, the use of English as the lin- gua franca for academic communication and the growing international labour market for schol- ars. In other words, it is the process of weaving academic programmes, institutions and their quality into a global context. The internationalisation of higher education involves two goals: one is joining the first- rate education level, and the other is bilateral openness (Park, 2009). In order to accomplish both goals, two strategies are crucial for the South Korean (hereafter, Korean) higher education sys- tem. Firstly, it is pivotal to benchmark the top-ranking overseas universities and to internalise the best practices considering idiosyncratic properties of the Korean university system. Secondly, strategic alliances with first-class overseas universities are also necessary. In this way, Korean 1 An earlier version of this paper was presented at UNESCO Regional Seminar on International Mobility of Students, 22-24 March 2011, Bangkok, Thailand. 2 Assistant Professor, School of Business, Kyungil University, South Korea