Bringing All International Student Support Under One Roof... Busan Opens "Study Busan Hub"

“Vision for the Era of 30,000 International Students Proclaimed”

Integrated System for Employment, Healthcare, Finance, and Visas

Full-Time Placement of Professional Counselors in Four Languages

Busan is bringing together its support systems for international students under one umbrella.

On the afternoon of February 10, the Busan Metropolitan City Government held an opening ceremony for the “Busan International Student Integrated Support Hub (Study Busan Hub)” at the Busan office building of the National Pension Service in Yeonje District, and officially declared the transition to an integrated support system for international students.

The Integrated Support Hub is characterized by consolidating, in one place, international student support programs that had previously been run separately by each university. Through the “One-Team Busan” framework in which the city government, universities, and related institutions all participate, it will support the entire process from students’ entry into Korea to employment and settlement.

At a roundtable meeting with international students held prior to the opening ceremony, there was also time to introduce key support programs and for senior international students to share their experiences and advice from the process of settling in Busan.

The Integrated Support Hub was planned based on the Regional Innovation-led University Support System (RISE), which was launched in 2025. Silla University and Dong-Eui Institute of Technology were selected as the operating lead universities, and the Busan Global City Foundation joined to build the integrated platform.

At the event, Busan’s vision for the era of 30,000 international students was also proclaimed. Centered on the Busan Metropolitan City Government, the Busan RISE Innovation Center, the Busan Global City Foundation, and the lead universities, 11 institutions in the fields of employment, finance, healthcare, and visas signed work agreements and pledged full life-cycle support.

The agreement participants included the Busan Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Busan Employers Federation (employment), Busan Bank (finance), the Busan Immigration Office (social integration), and Dong-Eui Medical Center and Dong-Eui University (healthcare). Key support measures include opening bank accounts and providing financial consultations using foreign passports, medical fee discounts and multilingual medical services, internship matching and building an employment database, and operating social integration programs to support settlement in the local community.

The Integrated Support Hub has been established on the second floor of the Busan office building of the National Pension Service, which offers convenient access. It is equipped with six one-stop consultation booths, a Global Lounge as a community space for international students, a training room, and an operations office. Four professional counselors who can provide services in English, Chinese, Vietnamese, and Russian (including Uzbek) are stationed there full-time, offering practical, day-to-day consultations on employment, visas, finance, and more.

Going forward, the Busan Metropolitan City Government plans to gradually promote initiatives such as joint overseas recruitment fairs by university consortia, regular TOPIK (Test of Proficiency in Korean) courses and Korean-language mentoring, local cultural experience programs, a wide-area job fair, surveys on international students’ settlement conditions, and related policy research.

Busan Mayor Park Heongjoon said, “The Integrated Support Hub is Busan’s core engine for preparing not only for the era of 20,000 international students, but for the era of 30,000 international students,” adding, “We will complete the building of ‘Study in Busan,’ a study-abroad city where global talents learn, work, and settle down in Busan.”

Busan City Hall.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.