Seoul is the new Paris for university students living abroad

{"text":[[{"start":6.2,"text":"Boston University student Valery Crayton first got the K-culture bug when a YouTube video posted by a student on a study trip to Seoul captured her imagination. “It was just fascinating — she was living with a host family and everything was just so different from the US: the language, the culture, the locations, the food,” she says. Until then, she had never conceived of studying abroad. Her Colombian mother only travelled to visit relatives; her father had little interest in trips beyond the US. The family’s means are modest and Crayton assumed a foreign trip was out of her budget."}],[{"start":39.68,"text":"“But then I found out about Boston University’s foreign study programmes and scholarships — I realised it was this chance to get out of the US before I returned to get a job and build a future,” she says. At the end of that first year, she made a six-week study trip to Seoul, much to the perplexity of her parents. “My mum said, ‘Why would you go there? You don’t have any family.’ But I was so excited to totally step out of my normal life and try something new,” she says."}],[{"start":66.8,"text":"In 2023, the South Korean government announced a five-year plan to attract 300,000 international students by 2027 – the Study Korea 300K project – in part by easing visa regulations. The goal was achieved ahead of time. International students enrolled in South Korean universities have increased by 69 per cent in the past three years, to 307,500. The city exemplifies the new class of emerging city destinations students are favouring over established hubs like London, Paris and New York."}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":98.76,"text":"Fashionable in part thanks to the explosion of K-pop culture, Seoul’s distinctiveness feeds a sense of adventure for students from Europe and the US. Its energy, culture, food and cityscape promise a cosmopolitan lifestyle, which comes with a cheaper price tag than many students’ home cities. “In the past, the vast majority of US students choosing to study in Seoul were ‘heritage seekers’,” says Fanta Aw, chief executive of NAFSA: Association of International Educators — “second or third-generation immigrants with family from Asia or South Korea. Today the average American student [choosing Seoul] will have no prior connection.”"}],[{"start":134.654,"text":"Seoul’s growing appeal is part of a wider trend of changing tastes among university students considering study periods abroad. University reputation and a city’s future job prospects are still crucial, but students today place increasing emphasis on the wider “ecosystem, including lifestyle, connectivity, opportunities and environmental values”, says Anastasia Panori, an academic who studies student trends at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, in Greece."}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":161.96,"text":"Technology is helping to broaden horizons and expand possibilites. Social media showcases tantalising unfamiliar locations, while increasingly advanced and interactive map, accommodation and translation apps have opened up previously hard-to-navigate cities. Visa paths to study are being eased, and a fast-growing range of courses and exchange programmes offered by European and US universities is increasing the routes to adventure. In the decade to 2024, annual participants in Europe’s Erasmus+ programme — which funds study, training and exchanges abroad — increased from 259,000 to 1.44mn. Last November, the European Commission proposed to extend Erasmus+ to 2034."}],[{"start":202.566,"text":"But steep rent rises since the pandemic are affecting the economics. A room in Amsterdam now costs nearly three times one in Budapest, according to data provider HousingAnywhere. “Especially where university degrees are funded by student debt, the most expensive global capitals lose some of their allure,” says Sophie Oakes, a London-based educational consultant."}],[{"start":223.58,"text":"Seoul — despite South Korea’s AI property boom — scores well on rental costs for students. Sorim Jie, of estate agent Cushman & Wakefield’s Seoul office, says the two most common university rental options are “one-rooms” — studio flats in a building where the landlord typically lives, costing around Won900,000 ($670) — and hasukjib, where students rent a room in a shared house direct from the landlord (a model similar to Britain’s student HMOs) cost around Won600,000 ($445)."}],[{"start":258.98,"text":"Lisbon has been another notable beneficiary of shifting international student tastes: those attending Lisbon universities under the EU Erasmus+ programme nearly tripled in the nine years to 2024 to 7,400; US students visiting Portugal increased fourfold over the same period."}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":276.572,"text":"On a mild autumn morning in Lisbon, students stream out on to the Avenida Almirante Reis from Xior Alameda, an apartment building recently renovated to become student accommodation. On the 10-minute walk to Instituto Superior Técnico’s Alameda campus, where many study, the appeal of the city comes into view."}],[{"start":295.445,"text":"At the Mercado de Arroios, the buzzing circular 1940s covered market renovated in 2017, English is widely spoken by the stallholders and waiters. From there, as the route winds through the lively multicultural neighbourhood of Arroios, Lisbon’s signature early 20th-century tiled facades are interspersed with faded shopfronts, lively restaurants and the inexpensive cafés and bars that form a staple of university life."}],[{"start":320.973,"text":"Lisbon’s rising housing costs, fuelled in part by the conversion of local rental homes into Airbnbs, have become a political touchstone. But room rents remain below many other European cities: the average student rent for a room in Lisbon costs €530 per month, compared with €720 in Paris and €1,140 in London."}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":342.86,"text":"“Students [like] Lisbon’s low cost of living and the quality of life — the climate, good housing, cheap food. It has a growing international population, it’s a cosmopolitan city that is welcoming and English is widely spoken,” says NAFSA’s Aw."}],[{"start":356.88,"text":"Duarte Cardoso Ferreira, executive director of estate agency CBRE’s Lisbon office, and a lecturer on planning at Católica Lisbon School of Business and Economics, where he teaches a class largely composed of international students, has witnessed the city’s growing appeal. “The number of students I teach has increased from 60 when I started in 2018 to 180 today,” he says. Xior Alameda is one of 10 university accommodation developments along the city’s densely packed university corridor, he explains, from Técnico through to Cidade Universitária neighbourhood, that hosts more than 37,000 students."}],[{"start":394.781,"text":"Increasingly, specialist organisations are establishing study programmes for US universities in the city. “It’s easier for home universities and helps students negotiate the language barrier,” explains Greg Hess, chief executive of IES Abroad, one of the largest US providers of overseas study programmes."}],[{"start":413.16,"text":"New developments are adapting to the trend. “I first really noticed the growth in these programmes five years ago,” says Chitra Stern, founder of Edu Hub Lisbon. This educational campus will eventually cover 50,000 sq metres, located between Lisbon airport and Parque das Nações, Lisbon’s riverside district, which was transformed into a vibrant area of parks and businesses for Expo ‘98. It already includes United Lisbon International School, which opened in 2020, but opening next year are Marvila Studios, a 374-studio hospitality-student accommodation hybrid, and the Global Learning Hub, which will provide 5,000 sq m of classrooms, workspaces and an events space for foreign university programmes (Virginia Commonwealth University and a Brazilian university that Stern declines to name will be the first tenants)."}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":464.281,"text":"International students are also an increasing source of demand for local sales, says Victoria Garrett, executive director of Savills’ global residential business. “Outside the classic markets of London, Paris and New York, Lisbon has become the top choice for buying for a child attending university, in part because pricing is still relatively attractive,” she says. Average prime sale prices in Lisbon are €14,600 per sq m, compared with €18,200 in London, €19,000 in Paris and €25,000 in New York, according to Savills."}],[{"start":498.415,"text":"Prague is another city to which international students have been flocking in recent years. Between 2014 and 2023, those on Erasmus+ programmes at Prague universities doubled to 4,764, according to research by Tuomas Väisänen, a computational geographer at the University of Helsinki."}],[{"start":517.144,"text":"Here, too, parents are increasingly interested in buying city homes for their children, according to Jan Kolar, who runs the Czech Republic business of Sotheby’s International Realty. Most of these clients are from Slovakia, with a smattering from Russia, Ukraine and Vietnam, he says. “They tend to avoid historic central Prague, which is touristy and more expensive — most are looking for a safe neighbourhood with good shops and amenities, where the children can get to know their neighbours,” he says."}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":545.14,"text":"He points to a recent sale for €920,000 — a two-bedroom fourth-floor renovated period apartment in Vinohrady, whose distinctive pastel-hued art nouveau apartments, tree-lined avenues and bustling food scene make it popular with international buyers. He sold the home to a Slovakian couple — both dentists — whose daughter is about to start a medical degree at the city’s prestigious Charles University."}],[{"start":567.792,"text":"“In our surveys of international students they tell us they value the prestige of the universities, the city’s affordability and its central position in Europe, making travel to other major cities easy,” says Jakub Stary, president of the Czech division of Erasmus Student Network. Typically, local universities including Charles, Czech Technical University and the Prague University of Economics and Business will provide dormitory accommodation — a private room with shared bathrooms, kitchen and other facilities — for between €200 and €300 per month, he says. For those seeking a room or their own home in the wider private rented sector, he recommends Facebook groups."}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":605.216,"text":"Choosing a city for her international relations degree, Gvantsa Machitidze, 21, who is from Georgia, was attracted by Paris and Brussels. But she felt Prague performed just as well in terms of the sort of cultural and academic institutions that impress politicians and policymakers. The city is also much cheaper than either: she pays €500 for her studio apartment in Vinohrady (10 minutes by tram to Anglo-American University, where she studies), spends roughly €50 per month on groceries and enjoys unlimited public transport for just €5 per month. “I often go to the Institute of International Relations or to events at the embassies. The transport system is fantastic. And I can walk home alone at night without feeling frightened.”"}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":660.58,"text":"Two years ago, when Istanbul-based Zeysan Cakir, then 17, decided to study at Masaryk University, in the Czech city of Brno, social media was key to her house search. She found a roommate, a girl from Myanmar, through an Instagram account created for English speakers on her business management and finance degree. The two then chose a room in the university dormitory by consulting student reviews and online floor plans. “We wanted to be close to the laundry room,” she laughs. Now 19, she recently started working in customer support for a tech company, alongside her studies, and is taking advantage of rules allowing her to work in the Czech Republic when she graduates. “I’m currently looking for a job in finance,” she says."}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":697.64,"text":"Back in Seoul, social media has also played a central role in the city’s breakthrough status for international students, not least through its dissemination of K-pop culture, according to Aw. But its increasing salience in student choices is a double-edged sword, she cautions. “The growing role of influencers has made it harder for [students] to distinguish fact from fiction. They are instrumental in telling these stories but they may be paid to promote a city. It’s vital that students do their due diligence,” she says."}],[{"start":728.32,"text":"Crayton’s own experience is a case in point: as well as providing the route to discover South Korea’s capital, online videos unwittingly armed her with prejudices. “There were a lot of warnings that Koreans were not that open to foreigners. It shaped what I was expecting, so I would avoid restaurants where I couldn’t order my meal through a screen,” she says."}],[{"start":747.96,"text":"But when she returned to the city earlier this year for a four-month study trip, she realised they had been misleading. “A Korean friend recently explained it was partly about their fear of making mistakes in English. Now I’ve understood where they are coming from, I’ve made more friends.”"}],[{"start":761.126,"text":"Find out about our latest stories first — follow @ft_houseandhome on Instagram"}],[{"start":771.2,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1789781363_3737.mp3"}