A plan is underway to build a "school inside a building" in the Yongsan International Business District, which will break ground on the 27th. The aim is to facilitate the attraction of global corporations and international organizations, but under current law it is difficult to establish a foreign school as a formally authorized institution, making it likely to open as an unaccredited international school.
According to the Seoul Metropolitan Government and others on the 25th, the Yongsan International Business District plans to recruit tenant institutions and corporations, as well as educational institutions, through land sales next year. A British school foundation is said to have expressed interest early on in moving in, according to the city.
The city says it is necessary to establish a foreign school for the children of employees of multinational corporations moving into the Yongsan International Business District. The district is divided into three zones by primary use: ▲ international business ▲ mixed-use office ▲ office support, and the educational facility is slated for the office support zone. The city plans to set up a school within the 3,500-unit apartment complex to be built in the office support zone. The idea is for the school to occupy several floors of a residential-commercial tower.
However, under current law, apartment housing is not included among the mixed-use facilities that can be built together with a school, making it impossible to establish the school. The current Act on the Installation, Operation and Management of School Complex Facilities includes public and cultural-sports facilities, parking lots, and lifelong education facilities as school complex facilities. The ruling bloc is pushing to revise the law to expand the scope of school complex facilities, but there has been no progress. A revision proposed in Jul. last year by Rep. Hwang Hee of the Democratic Party of Korea to allow urban-type schools is currently pending.
Separately, the city says there should be no major issue, as many unaccredited international schools already operate in Seoul. GIS Gangnam International School (GIS), known for enrolling the children of celebrities; VIVIEN & Stanley Gangnam International School (VSGIS); and BC Collegiate (BCC) are representative unaccredited schools. A Seoul city official said, "Even if it launches as an unaccredited school, in the long term we plan to seek incorporation into the formal system through consultations among relevant agencies and legal revisions," adding, "We have time before land sales, so we will continue the discussions."
Separately, discussions are underway on supplying schools in line with the housing supply within the international business district. Under the Special Act on Public Housing, public housing project operators must develop and secure school sites, or otherwise bear the cost of expanding nearby schools. With the establishment of a foreign school already proving difficult and securing school sites virtually impossible, the city is also considering expanding or rebuilding nearby schools such as Hangang Elementary School and Namjeong Elementary School. A Seoul city official said, "Housing supply and school establishment are closely linked, and we plan to finalize this in the near future in consultation with the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport."