A Network Analysis of Foreign Student-Related News Trend

Abstract

In this study, we explored how Korean society looked at foreign students even before the implementation of the Study Korea Project policy through a big data analysis of news trends. We collected 14,121 news articles related to foreign students from January 1, 1990 to November 25 2022, and words with high degree centrality and eigenvector centrality were labeled as keywords, and words with highest TF-IDF score were considered as topics. As a result of co-occurrence word network analysis, we examined the process of agenda formation centering on the Gyeongnam region prior to the implementation of the Study Korea Project. In addition, although news articles related to foreign students increased due to the implementation of the Study Korea Project, COVID-19 had a decisive effect on the increase in the issue salience of foreign students. As a result of analyzing the topics by three different periods, we identified that 'the perspective of international trade' was the dominant viewpoint in Korean society, rather than 'the perspective of global education'. Based on these results, an urgent call for the internationalization of higher education based on an intercultural perspective was requested to respect and welcome the diversity of foreign students.