Seongnam-si, Gyeonggi-do. The Philippine Embassy in Seoul held a meeting with the National Institute for International Education (NIIED) on 2 December 2024 to discuss possible collaboration, developments in the South Korea education system, and concerns of Filipino students.

Discussions between Ambassador Maria Theresa B. Dizon-De Vega and NIIED President Han Sangshin were likewise joined by Deputy Chief of Mission and Consul General Romulo Victor M. Israel, Jr.; Third Secretary and Vice Consul Jilliane Joyce R. De Dumo-Cornista; Director Kim Youl; and Team Directors Kim Na Yun and Yu Mi Young.

The NIIED is an administrative agency under the Ministry of Education, which focuses on the internationalization of Korean education. Its responsibilities include attracting and supporting international students, managing the Global Korea Scholarship (GKS) program, administering the Test of Proficiency in Korean (TOPIK), fostering international education exchange, supporting overseas Koreans, and enhancing foreign language education.

As of June 2024, there are 649 Filipino students in the ROK holding D-2 visas and 60 with D-10 job-seeker visas. The NIIED has a track record of supporting Filipino students in South Korea, including activities of the Filipino community organization Pinoy Iskolars sa Korea (PIKO)’s Academic Colloquium and the Philippine Embassy’s First Migration Webinar in 2023.

Both the Philippine Embassy and the NIIED committed to working together to address the Filipino students’ concerns and advance mutually beneficial initiatives, aligned with the Joint Declaration on the Strategic Partnership between the Republic of the Philippines and the Republic of Korea. END