Nearly 94% of South Korea’s Youngest Chaebol Heirs Have Studied Abroad

Overseas education has become the norm for a new generation of business heirs

Nearly 94 percent of fourth and fifth generation members of South Korea’s major conglomerate families have studied abroad, a survey by corporate research firm CEO Score found. The figures point to a marked change in how the country’s business dynasties prepare younger family members: for many, an overseas university is now the starting point of higher education, not a destination after graduation in Korea.

CEO Score examined the educational backgrounds of 350 members of controlling families at 89 major business groups. Of 49 people in the fourth and fifth generations, 46 had overseas study experience, or 93.9 percent. The share was 78.7 percent among third generation members, 67.9 percent among the second generation and 5.9 percent among founders.

The survey counts overseas study across a person’s education, including undergraduate and graduate programs. It does not show that every person studied abroad for the same length of time or at the same stage. Still, the generational pattern is striking: international education has become far more common among the youngest group in the sample.

Columbia University in New York was the most attended overseas institution, with 22 family members, followed by New York University with 18 and Cornell University with 16. Within Korea, Korea University led with 54, ahead of Seoul National University with 50 and Yonsei University with 35.

How has the route to a foreign degree changed?

For many members of the first three generations, the typical route was to complete an undergraduate degree in Korea and then pursue a graduate qualification overseas. Business administration programs, including the Master of Business Administration, or MBA, became one way for future executives to gain formal training in management and international business.

The younger generations more often begin abroad. Of the 46 fourth and fifth generation members with overseas study experience, 33, or 71.7 percent, enrolled at a foreign university from the undergraduate level. Some also studied abroad before university. The survey’s figures do not specify the exact timing for every individual, but they show a shift away from overseas education as a later career or postgraduate step.

The change builds on a trend visible more than a decade ago. A 2011 survey cited in additional reporting found that 40.4 percent of a broader group of business family members had attended a foreign university. Among those who entered university after 2000, the share was 87 percent. That earlier sample and the CEO Score survey are not directly comparable, but both suggest younger family members were already more likely to go abroad.

Different generations also reflect different starting points. Hyundai founder Chung Ju-yung had an elementary education, while his son Chung Mong-koo attended Hanyang University. His grandson, Hyundai Motor Group Executive Chair Chung Euisun, studied business administration at Korea University and later earned an MBA at the University of San Francisco. That family history captures a wider shift from limited formal schooling to domestic university education and then to international study.

Which universities draw the most family members?

Columbia’s 22 attendees include Lotte Group Chairman Shin Dong-bin and his son Shin Yoo-yeol, an executive at Lotte Corp. Both earned MBAs there. CJ Group future planning head Lee Sun-ho studied financial economics at Columbia. Other family members listed among its alumni pursued fields including applied statistics, industrial engineering, French literature and organizational psychology.

New York University had 18 attendees. They include former Doosan Group Chairman Park Yong-sung and Doosan Enerbility Chairman Park Ji-won, both of whom earned MBAs. Cornell, with 16, has drawn family members studying hotel administration, economics and other subjects. Among its alumni are Kolon Vice Chairman Lee Kyu-ho and members of the Shinsegae and Amorepacific families.

Some of these schools recur within the same family group. Five Doosan family members are reported to have completed MBAs at New York University. Three Amorepacific family members attended Cornell, including Chairman Suh Kyung-bae, who earned an MBA, and his daughters Suh Min-jung and Suh Ho-jung, who studied economics and hotel administration. Four fourth generation members of the GS family earned MBAs at Stanford.

The clustering suggests that family education choices may be shaped by established networks, familiar programs or previous generations’ experiences. The survey identifies alumni patterns, however, and does not establish why a particular family or student chose a university.

U.S. schools dominate the overseas list

The most frequently attended foreign universities in the survey are in the United States. Columbia, New York University, Cornell, Stanford and Harvard lead the reported list. Outside the United States, Tsinghua University in China and Keio University in Japan had the largest numbers, with four attendees each.

Keio alumni include Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong, who earned an MBA there, and Hyosung Group Chairman Cho Hyun-joon, who studied political science at the graduate level. Shin Yoo-yeol also studied environmental information studies at Keio before pursuing his MBA at Columbia. The examples show that international education among these families is not limited to business degrees or to the United States.

South Korea’s conglomerates, commonly called chaebol, are large business groups in which founding families have traditionally held significant ownership or influence. Their companies operate across industries, and many have expanded internationally. Overseas education can provide language skills, academic credentials and experience living outside Korea. It can also place students in alumni networks that may prove useful in business. Those are possible benefits, not outcomes measured by this survey.

Korea University tops the domestic count

Korea University had 54 family members among the domestic university alumni counted by CEO Score. Its alumni include SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won, who studied physics, and Hyundai Motor Group Executive Chair Chung Euisun, who studied business administration. CJ Group Chairman Lee Jay-hyun and GS Group Chairman Huh Chang-soo are also listed among its alumni.

Seoul National University ranked second, with 50. Its alumni include Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong, who studied East Asian history, and Kakao founder Kim Beom-su, who studied industrial engineering. Yonsei University followed with 35, including Amorepacific Group Chairman Suh Kyung-bae, a business administration graduate. Ewha Womans University had 26, including Shinsegae’s Lee Myung-hee, who studied applied arts.

The domestic figures offer a reminder that overseas education has not displaced Korean universities from the educational histories of business families. The counts include people from multiple generations, many of whom earned their first degrees at home before studying abroad. They measure how often institutions appear in the group’s education records, not the influence of a university on company performance or succession decisions.

Education and succession are not the same thing

The shift toward early overseas study comes as questions about family succession remain prominent in South Korea. An international degree may prepare a family member for work in a global company, but it does not determine whether that person will take a leadership role. Nor does the survey assess academic achievement, professional experience or how companies choose their executives.

Samsung provides one example of why education and succession should be treated separately. Lee Jae-yong studied in Korea and Japan, while the company has also publicly discussed the future of family involvement in management. Education records alone cannot establish who will inherit control or how a company will be governed.

The survey’s scope also matters. It includes 350 family members whose educational backgrounds could be confirmed across 89 groups, rather than every relative connected to those companies. The youngest generation count is 49 people, so each individual represents a little more than two percentage points of that group. The results describe the people studied, not necessarily every chaebol family or every younger heir.

Even with those limits, the contrast across generations is clear. Overseas education has moved from a rare experience among founders to a near-universal one among the surveyed fourth and fifth generations. The most visible change is the timing: many younger family members now begin university abroad, while earlier generations more often went overseas for graduate study after completing a Korean degree.

The Bottom Line

• CEO Score surveyed 350 members of controlling families at 89 major South Korean business groups.
• Overseas study experience was reported for 93.9 percent of fourth and fifth generation members, compared with 5.9 percent of founders.
• Among the youngest overseas educated group, 71.7 percent began at a foreign university as undergraduates.
• Columbia led the overseas university list with 22 attendees; Korea University led the domestic list with 54.
• New York University, Cornell and Stanford also had recurring alumni from several business families.