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Chinese international students
EconomyGlobal Economy

Chinese students living under Covid-19 in South Korea ponder future, worried about ‘buying a degree’

  • The number of Chinese students who entered South Korea decreased by 30 per cent between 2019 and 2020
  • The number of international students studying in South Korea fell by 14.9 per cent to 153,361 by the end of 2020 from 2019

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“Since the beginning of the pandemic, the amount of time I spend at home has increased a lot,” said Sichuan native Liu Yue. Photo: Liu Yue
Erika Na

As a long-time fan of K-pop who had been teaching herself Korean since her early teens, Sichuan native Liu Yue took what appeared to be a logical step and applied to a university in South Korea in 2018.

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Fast forward to December, the 22-year-old is still in South Korea and is in her final year studying business administration. But her life looks nothing like what she had dreamt about.

“I always had high expectations about attending university in South Korea, thinking that it will be so fun. I was excited to do things like joining different club activities at school, making a lot of Korean friends, and travelling the country,” said Liu, who enrolled in the prestigious Korea University in September 2018.

The spread of the coronavirus in South Korea that began early last year turned out to be the biggest blow to the expectations she had for her university life.

I don’t have that many friends nowadays because most of my Chinese friends have gone back to China during the pandemic
Liu Yue

“Since the beginning of the pandemic, the amount of time I spend at home has increased a lot. Also, I don’t have that many friends nowadays because most of my Chinese friends have gone back to China during the pandemic,” added Liu, who has been living by herself in Seoul since early 2019.

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Liu is not alone in being one of the least expected victims of the global pandemic – those who are unable to fully immerse themselves in their studying abroad experience.
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