Most chaebol heirs study abroad

Over half of children of major South Korean business group owners went to a university abroad, a new report has revealed.

The report released by the business rating site CEO Score on Wednesday showed that nearly 53 percent of children from owner families of the top 100 conglomerates, who are also involved in management, have graduated from a university outside Korea.

The site found most chaebol heirs receive higher education abroad after analyzing 114 out of 157 children whose academic records were available.

When broken down by university, Boston University was the most preferred academic institution to get a bachelor’s degree, closely followed by the likes of New York University, Columbia University, and Brown University.

Cho Hyun-Bum, who is the current president of Hankook Tire, is among Boston University’s alumni, while Chung Yong-jin, the vice chairman and CEO of Shinsegae Group, studied at Brown University.

The report also revealed 88 percent of children from business owner families who earned a master’s degree did so while overseas, with Stanford University being the most popular choice.

Among those 53 who studied at home, who make up 46.5 percent of the sample group, 17 graduated from Yonsei University, while 11 and 6 graduated from Seoul National University and Ewha Womans University, respectively.

When it comes to work experience, the number of chabol heirs who worked at a different company before starting their career at their parents’ corporate group stood at 46 percent, meaning over half of the heirs had their first job at a company owned by their parents.

Around 52 percent of the chaebol heirs with previous work experience began their career in the fields of management consulting and finance, while others pursued a career in advertising, marketing, law and sales.

By Yim Hyun-su (hyunsu@heraldcorp.com)