SEOUL, Sept. 21 (Yonhap) -- The education ministry will accredit universities that do well in attracting and educating foreign students and screen low-performing colleges to limit visa approvals and other benefits, officials said Wednesday.

The Ministry of Education, Science and Technology said it will examine 364 universities later this month on such criteria as the number of foreign faculty members, international students, fiscal soundness, drop-out rate and available accommodation in consultation with an education advisory body.

The move comes after calls for restructuring of problem-ridden universities that fail to offer quality education to the growing number of foreign students, in tandem with an education reform drive to weed out poorly managed schools and address the problem of rising tuition.

The best-performing schools in such criteria will be named "model schools" for their international programs and receive certificates and other incentives from the government, the ministry said.

The ministry will target schools in the bottom 5 percent in December and exercise tougher screening when their applicants apply for visas, officials said.

Higher learning institutions with fewer than 20 international students or with a drop-out rate among foreign students of more than 20 percent will not be eligible for certificates, nor will the 17 lowest-ranked colleges that were disclosed earlier this month and are subject to state budget cuts.

South Korea hosted 83,842 foreign students last year and that number is expected to reach 90,000 by the end of this year, according to the ministry.