South Koreans will be able to pursue overseas undergraduate and graduate degrees without having to leave the country under the cross-border virtual education outline by the government.

The Ministry of Education finalized measures at a ministerial meeting on Wednesday to promote higher education programs based on digital technologies that could lead to co-growth of universities and regions.

The government will lift the cap that limits credit earning through online classes at less than 20 percent of total credits and give discretion to schools to set the proportion.

Universities can operate 100 percent online master’s degree programs independently or jointly with other schools at home and abroad. They can provide fully-online undergraduate degree programs only in cooperation with overseas institutions. But graduate schools of medical and law will be excluded from the policy.

Major universities in Korea are exploring ways to set up joint online curriculum with prestigious schools abroad. An official from Seoul National University said the school is mulling arranging joint programs with overseas schools and utilizing remote learning aggressively to its courses. Yonsei University recently signed an exchange student program with U.S. Cornell University to provide its courses to students who can’t go abroad to study amid Covid-19 travel ban. Yonsei University president Seo Seung-hwan said during a telephone interview with Maeil Business Newspaper that the school is coming up with joint remote courses with prestigious schools overseas.

The ministry will also provide 104.8 billion won ($88.3 million) worth support to schools to achieve its goal to nurture 100,000 talents by 2026 in digital technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), big data, next-generation chips and Internet of Things.

By Ko Min-suh, Shin Hye-rim and Choi Mira

[ⓒ Pulse by Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]