Ewha Womans University graduates made up the largest number of human resources staff at foreign companies in Korea, a recent survey showed.

Korea Foreign Company Employee’s Human Network, a non-profit organization founded in 1999, recently looked at 1,026 employees who work in the HR divisions of foreign companies and are members of the network.

KOFEN, an internet-based recruitment service specializing in foreign companies, said the survey showed that those who attended Seoul-based four-year colleges occupy the largest proportion of employees in human resources departments in foreign companies. The others were graduates from schools in Gyeonggi and other provinces, and those who studied abroad.

By university, Ewha graduates topped the list with 78 employees.

Korea University took up second with 72 employees, followed by Hankuk University of Foreign Studies with 49 employees.

The other top colleges included Chung-Ang University, Yonsei University, Sungkyunkwan University, Hanyang University, Sookmyung Women’s University and Sogang University.

Among the respondents, 60 employees attended colleges or graduate schools overseas.

KOFEN HR’s study also showed that those who majored English language and literature outnumbered other majors in the HR divisions of foreign companies.

By subject, 128 employees held bachelor’s degrees in English, followed by those with economics, public administration and law.

It said 47 were economics majors, and 41 were public administration majors. Thirty-four employees studied law.

Some HR workers who majored in science or engineering. A total of 57 of the respondents held degrees related to science or engineering.

The survey also indicates that executives at foreign companies were mainly those who have diplomas from top-ranking colleges in Seoul or majored in human resources management at universities abroad.

KOFEN head Kim Jong-cheol reportedly said that different preference codes can apply to different departments of the foreign companies.

“The top three colleges with the largest proportions of high-ranking officials in other general divisions of foreign companies are Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, Ewha Womans University and Korea University,” Kim was quoted as saying.

“But as you can see in the research results, foreign companies’ HR divisions pick fluency in foreign languages as the most important skill at work in particular, in addition to professional knowledge and experience in human resources management. The CEOs of foreign companies prefer applicants who attended colleges abroad as well.”

By Chung Joo-won (joowonc@heraldcorp.com)