Korean proficiency test takers more than double

SEOUL, Sept. 17 (Yonhap) -- The number of non-Koreans taking the Korean proficiency test has more than doubled on-year to 150,000, riding on the wave of Korean firms' overseas expansion and growing educational exchanges, the education ministry said Tuesday.

The Test of Proficiency in Korean, also known as TOPIK, is conducted twice a year
in 31 countries for people preparing to work or study in Korea,

"Many universities here require foreign students to submit their TOPIK test
scores for application, and those who speak the language have the edge when it
comes to employment here," said Park Seung-cheol, a ministry official in
charge of Korean education overseas.

About 67,000 people took the April test, and about 85,780 more have applied for
the upcoming test set for this weekend, said the Ministry of Education, Science
and Technology. The figure is more than twice the 72,290 test-takers in 2007.

The increase was sharper in neighboring countries. In China, the number of TOPIK
takers soared to 119,925 this year from 47,645 in 2007. The figure in Japan in
rose to 7,489 from 6,822. Developing countries like Mongolia, India, Uzbekistan,
Brazil and Argentina also showed steady growth.

The TOPIK, which is comprised of four sections on vocabulary and grammar,
writing, listening and reading, was first conducted in 1997 for 2,274 people.
About a third of them passed the test.

Education authorities say more and more foreign students come to study in Korea,
even though the country's international student ratio is still low. The ratio in
Korea's tertiary institutions has increased more than six times since 2000 to 0.7
percent, but that figure is far lower than the average 9.6 percent for member
countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.