The deportation of 22 Uzbek students by Hanshin University has reverberated through South Korean higher education in recent months, exposing flaws in the country’s management of international students and threatening the country’s ability to attract and retain foreign talent.

Last November, the university located in Osan, south of Seoul, told the students private security would escort them to an immigration office under the pretext of receiving their alien registration cards. However, the security guards actually took them directly to Incheon International Airport to board a pre-booked flight to Uzbekistan.