The Ministry of Education has unveiled a plan that would allow foreign schools to set up their campuses in Korea jointly with domestic institutions.

On Thursday, the ministry unveiled a draft bill to revise the special law on foreign educational institutions to clear a hurdle for the creation of joint schools.

The bill is aimed at attracting international schools by allowing them to team up with their Korean counterparts to establish schools here.

In other words, if the revision bill is approved, Seoul National University and Harvard could work together to open a campus here.

The draft will be finalized after collecting opinions from different interest groups and then submitted to the National Assembly later this year.

The current system allows only foreign schools to establish schools in free economic zones like Incheon's Songdo and Busan's Jinhae, as well as the Jeju Free International City. If the bill passes, foreign schools can do it with Korean partners as long as their investment share is more than 50 percent.

The ministry floated the idea of the change in December as part of its bid to reduce the annual trade deficit in education, which is estimated at about $4 billion (4.1 trillion won).

"The revision bill, if passed, is expected to pave the way for more international educational institutions to come to Korea while offsetting the demand for study abroad among local students," the ministry said.

"We expect more international schools to open in Korea as the revision will allows them to cooperate more systematically with domestic institutions," a ministry official told The Korea Times. "Some countries, such as Singapore and China, have a similar system to attract international schools."

The official said the ministry believes one of the reasons for the international schools' hesitancy is the fact that they lack an understanding of the Korean education system, which will be solved with the change.

Yet, with international schools having trouble meeting their student enrollment quotas in Korea, critics say the revision will have little effect on bringing in more international schools unless the government offers them more attractive inducements, such as tax benefits.

Meanwhile, an official from the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said the ministry has decided to increase financial aid to newly-opened international schools for the first five years from the current maximum of 8 billion won ($7.8 million) to 40 billion won.

"After a panel of experts' examination over a school's qualifications, the minister will decide how much aid to be provided to the school," he said. The new policy is expected to take effect next month.

(The Korea Times 22 May 2014)