The domestic university with the most foreign students last year was Hanyang University in Seoul. Shown are international students on May 9 at this year's Hanyang Global Fair held at the school's Seoul campus. (Hanyang's official Facebook page)

By Aisylu Akhmetzianova

The number of foreign students has steadily increased over the past decade, with 57% of them attending universities in the Seoul metropolitan area.

A report on attracting foreign students and future tasks released by the Korean Council for University Education on June 24 said 181,842 foreign students last year attended domestic universities, a 210% jump from 85,923 in 2013.

By school, Hanyang had the most foreign students with 6,612, followed by Kyung Hee with 6,395, Sungkyunkwan 5,472, Yonsei 4,965 and Chung-Ang 4,480.

The majority 45% attended universities in Seoul, followed by Gyeonggi-do Province with 12%, Chungcheongbuk-do Province and Busan, Ulsan and Gyeongsangnam-do Province 7%, and Daejeon 6%.

By country, China led the foreign contingent with 58,062, or 32%, followed by those from Vietnam (37,732 or 20%), Mongolia (9,738 or 5.4%) and Japan (5,701 or 3.1%).

In addition, 119,237 foreign students pursued a bachelor's, master's or Ph.D. and 52,602 were in non-degree programs such as language training. By major, humanities and social sciences dominated with 68%, followed by arts and sports with 15%, engineering 12% and natural sciences 5%.

aisylu@korea.kr