한베 노동시장에서 졸업 유학생의 초국적 경계 넘기: 베트남 유학생의 유학-취업-귀환-한국 재이주-정주 경험을 중심으로 = Transnational Crossing Boundaries of Vietnamese Graduates in the Korean and Vietnamese Labor Market : Focusing on the Studying Abroad, Employment, Return, Remigrating to Korea and Settlement Experiences of Vietnamese Students

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

This article aims at identifying the boundaries operating in the processesof studying abroad, employment, return, remigrating to Korea, and settlement,and capturing experiences in the contact zone and strategic practices of crossingboundaries by tracing the trajectories of Vietnamese graduates in the contactzone of Korean and Vietnamese labor market. By analyzing what strategicaction plans were proposed by the assets they gained from studying abroadwhen crossing boundaries, this article seeks to derive a flexible plan for education, policies, and systems for international students' employment and settlementafter graduation. Based on an empirical approach, this study collected datathrough in-depth interviews with ten Vietnamese students graduating fromKorean universities (graduate schools) and one representative of a Koreancompany. Nine out of ten students returned involuntarily due to difficultiesin employment and obtaining residency status in Korea, and even if theywere employed in Korea, they were dispatched to their country of origin.
This shows the recent change in employment patterns in the Korean andVietnamese labor market. However, most Vietnamese employees who werestudied in Korea showed a flexible mobility strategy to remigrate to Korea,such as obtaining status to stay in Korea, and signing a contract to be dispatchedoverseas by crossing the institutional boundaries of workplace and visa.
Graduates strategically chose their workplaces in Korea based on whetherthere is a branch in Vietnam, aiming to acquire social status by working inprofessional positions within global Korean companies. They also demonstratedstrategies for crossing social boundaries, such as choosing workplaces basedon the existence of Korean headquarters and transitioning between Koreancompanies in Vietnam. Additionally, to cross the economic boundaries, somegraduates utilized their work experience in Korea to negotiate salaries andopt for higher level course. Lastly, the Korean corporate cultural experienceacquired by Vietnamese graduates allows them to act as cultural mediatorsbetween Korean superiors and Vietnamese employees, and the geographicalassets acquired through Koreatown are used as a strategy to understand thehabits of Koreans. Strategic practices using assets acquired through studyingin Korea help these graduates to cross institutional, social, economic, andcultural boundaries and achieve the possibility of remigrating to Korea andsettling down through employment. However, there is a problem in thateducation of Korean university and the government's policy on studying abroad focus only on attracting international students and their adaptation, resultingin insufficient support for employment and settlement after graduation. Basedon these research findings, this article presents educational programs, policies,and system improvement measures to optimize employment and settlementof international students after studying abroad.