Hiring? Don't count out our humanities majors, Seoul says.

Amid Seoul's efforts to help international students in STEM settle for jobs, experts called for career and visa support for humanities and social science students at a forum hosted by the city.

Seoul hosted the Study, Work, Live in Seoul talk with representatives from the city and its universities, as well as international students, at City Hall on Thursday to discuss ways to help such students settle down in Seoul after graduation.

“The city's Global City Policy Bureau was created in July of last year, and although international student support did exist before, we began to earnestly think of ways to offer more support,” said Kim Su-deok, director-general of the city's Global City Policy Bureau. “For example, the Seoul Tech Scholarship was created to foster talent in key future industries, and the 30 Days in Seoul program was created to teach international students about getting a job.”

“We will do our best for issues mentioned during today's event to not just remain as mere discussions, but later become actual changes.”

The tech scholarship was created by Seoul in 2024, offering full scholarships and a monthly stipend to master's students who will study engineering and sciences in Seoul. The scholarship was awarded to nine students last year and around 20 this year.

The city also created the Seoul Metropolitan-Recommended Visa, which will allow select STEM students enrolled in eight Seoul universities starting fall 2025 to take a semester off to do internships.

While new programs were created, Thursday's event highlighted the importance of helping non-STEM students, a large portion of students, get jobs in the city.

As of 2024, there were 81,199 international students residing in Seoul. Among them, 49.6 percent were in humanities and social sciences and 11.9 percent in arts, with engineering majors making up 7.2 percent, natural sciences 2.3 percent and medicine 0.3 percent.

“While Seoul should continue with their existing international student policy that focuses on those studying in STEM, it also needs to find ways to utilize students in humanities, social sciences and arts,” said Kim Phil, a researcher at the Korea Research Institute for Local Administration. “Through this, Seoul can become a technology-based global research hub and also a city with a competitive edge in policy, finance and culture.”

Fields with high demand for international hires include finance, consulting, marketing, overseas business and multicultural support as well as the public sector.

In finance and consulting positions, foreign language proficiency — which a lot of international students have — isn't seen as a huge advantage, and hiring tends mostly to happen through networking.

To solve the problem, job fairs and the creation of training programs to help students gain hands-on work experience are important.

Companies are attempting to hire more international students in marketing as companies expand abroad, with employment-linked internships often seen in such fields. Overseas business is also an area that has been hiring a lot of international students in positions such as overseas sales, procurement and global human resources.

“For marketing, it is crucial for universities to create training programs that teach students about how to do market research, branding and data analysis, as well as learn about Korean corporate culture,” said Kim.

On Seoul's side, creating a list of companies that are open to hiring international students, running an internship platform and creating programs offering work experience for those on the job-seeking D-10 visa also came up during the forum.

Visa issues, including long wait times and difficulty finding information as policies frequently change, are also an obstacle to hiring international employees full-time.

International students attending the event also called for visa assistance. Students in social welfare and finance recalled being offered jobs and internships but having to turn them down after being unable to obtain the necessary visa.

Officials from the Seoul Immigration Office were also in attendance, surveying international students on ways to improve Korea's visa policies.

Focusing international student support in districts with a large student population, like Dongdaemun, Yongsan and Jongno Districts in central Seoul, Seodaemun District in western Seoul and Seongbuk District in northern Seoul, was one suggestion.

“Areas where a lot of international students live are a bit different than areas with the general foreign population, like Guro or Yeongdeungpo Districts,” said Kim Hwa-yeon, an associate research fellow at the Migration Research & Training Centre. “Districts with a lot of international students need to focus on creating support policies specifically for them.”

BY LEE TAE-HEE [lee.taehee2@joongang.co.kr]