More than a million foreign people now live in Korea. In order to keep up with the changing times and recognize this growing population group, the Korean government has recently declared its intention to follow international standards through joining the Convention on Cultural Diversity, adopted by UNESCO in 2001. In recognizing the need for practical steps to follow the ruling, it also established the Framework Act for Treatment of Foreigners Residing in the Republic of Korea in 2007, and the Support for Multicultural Families Act in 2008. The question might be asked, what are universities, which these days have more and more foreign students, doing to reflect this multicultural age?

The Ministry of Justice selected 20 ABT (Active Brain Tower) universities, among 58 that applied, to develop programs in multiculturalism, immigrant support programs, and to set up multicultural centers to study cultural integration in a multicultural society.  Four universities were selected in Seoul including Sookmyung Women's University, three were selected in Gyeonggi Province, two in Busan and one each in other metropolitan areas. In May, 2008, these universities initiated secondary multicultural society training courses to help understand the implications of a multicultural society and to prepare for an expected in-creasing demand for specialty instructors.

Apart from this, some universities, including Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, have their own multicultural center and have made efforts to develop an understanding of' multiculturalism. Universities working positively in this area hold scholarship seminars, do research activities and offer education, interpretation and translation services. They are trying to find ways to harmonize multicultural families in Korea.

Each university focuses on their own area of specialization. Hanyang University and Sookmyung Women's University research education and mutual understanding between cultures. The Hankuk University of Foreign Studies Center mainly concentrates on helping married immigrants with interpretation and translation. The Seoul National University of Education and SNU College of Education have each set up centers that focus on multicultural education, called respectively the Research Institute for Multicultural Education and the Center for Multi-cultural Education.

Professor Christine Inglis, Director of the Multicultural and Migration Research Center at the University of Sydney recently visited Korea. Australia has a large multicultural population with lots of people from other countries on working holidays, travelling or permanently settled as immigrants. The center at the University of Sydney publishes books to educate second generation immigrant youth in Sydney, as well as conducting research activities focusing on migration and ethnic relations between Australia, Southeast Asia, Turkey, China and Hong Kong. It also holds a regular Science Council. Prof. Inglis stressed the need for social concern to integrate immigrants as an example of the Australian process of solving problems and conflict between immigrants and the native-born population.

Universities, as institutions of higher education, should play an important role in the unification of a multicultural society and fulfill their obligations in the coming multicultural period. Professor Choi Hang Sub, from the Dept. of Sociology at Kookmin University said, "In a multicultural age Kookmin University also needs a multicultural center, but it doesn't have any plans to set up a center so far, as it has given priority to other things"

He felt the lack of a center and indicated it should be something the university aims to create. Kookmin University conducts its Global Buddy program and some departments such as the College of Economics and Business Administration have additional programs. But a multicultural center could centralize programs for multicultural unification. It is important and necessary to recognize and understand other cultures as the number of foreign residents in Korea increases. Universities still have a lot of things to do.