Korea aims to boost students abroad with CSAT

A national standardised exam that operates in Korea is being increasingly embraced on an international level – and could help the country boost the number of its students studying abroad.

The College Scholastic Aptitude Test is the country’s standardised test to “evaluate academic prowess and subject-specific expertise” – but not in the same way that the SATs or A-Levels do.

No tests, according to Kyuseok Kim of the UWAY consultancy, exhibit the intensity found in the entrances exams of Korea, as well as Japan and China – the day of the exam, police cars transport students and even airplane take-off and landing times are changed to fit with exam schedules.

“Historically, it has been pivotal within the domestic educational framework but is now gaining traction among US and other international universities seeking to tap into the competitive Korean student market for the last four years,” Kim told The PIE News.

In April, a study abroad fair saw deans and directors of international admissions from various US universities descended on Seoul, including State University New York’s four main campuses, Washington State, Rochester and Miami – due to their involvement of a fledgling initiative to boost the CSAT’s use abroad.

“It started in 2020 for the first time in South Korea, but has rapidly gained momentum asd is now endorsed by a growing number of higher education institutions.

“They recognise [the test’s] rigour and see it as a reliable measure of academic preparedness and potential,” Kim explained.

The CSAT Study Abroad Initiative, spearheaded by UWAY, is continuing to expand in the US and is now close to bringing two UK universities into the fold.

“UWAY was recently visited by a dozen US universities eager to establish formal partnerships, with others [wanting to tap] into the South Korea market for the first time to meet the rebounded demand for American higher education,” Kim said.

Korea is steadily climbing in terms of international student numbers to the US in particular, where a demographic cliff possibly awaits for domestic students.

In 2020/21, there were 39,491 South Korean students in US universities. In 2021/22, that number climbed over 40,000, and in the latest data it stands at 43,847.

The US is also gaining traction as Canada, the UK and Australia implement and discuss further policies that are possibly putting off international students.

While the initiative has ambitions to get the test accepted in more than just the US, the focus is on universities and regions where the Korean diaspora is “significant”, noted Kim.

“Trusting in the reliability of national standardised tests for college enrolment… is arguably one of the most viable methods”

“According to the narratives of admissions officers and counsellors at CSAT-accepting institutions, students who started studying in the US with scores from the South Korean national examination have demonstrated outstanding academic performance,” he reported.

He relents that it may be too early to tell whether the initiative will be a “flawless” success – but trusting an Asian standardised test like the CSAT could supercharge enrolment from Korea right when the US, and other countries, may need them.

“Trusting in the reliability of national standardised tests for college enrolment… is arguably one of the most viable methods to diversify recruitment channels and streamline the assessment process,” he added.

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