The number of foreign students studying in South Korea has almost doubled over the past five years, a government report showed Tuesday.

 

There were 32,557 foreign students attending South Korea's colleges, universities and graduate schools as of April 1, compared with 11,646 in 2001, according to the report from the education ministry.

 

Asian students accounted for 89.9 percent of the tally.

 

By nationality, 61.7 percent of the foreign students were from Chinese mainland, followed by Japanese with 11.4 percent, American with 4.5 percent and Vietnamese with 3.6 percent.

 

The rate of Chinese mainland students have been on a steady increase from 27.7 percent in 2001 to 61.7 percent this year, the report showed.

 

It also said the percentage of students from non-Asian countries is on the decrease compared with the rising number of Asian students in South Korea.

 

"There has been a sharp rise in students from China and the Central Asian region amid the rising global interest in South Korea's culture and its economic growth," said Jeon Wu-hong, a senior ministry official.

 

He raised the need to lure more students from non-Asian continents to make South Korean schools more multicultural.

 

(Xinhua News Agency October 25, 2006)