A Qualitative Study on Learning Satisfaction, Life Satisfaction, and Career Perception of International Students Majoring in Beauty: A Case Study of S University

Korean universities are making significant efforts to attract international students as a strategy to address the depletion of admissions resources caused by a declining birth rate and a shrinking school-age population. However, support systems for international students in terms of education, daily life guidance, employment, and post-graduation settlement remain insufficient. The purpose of this study is to provide foundational data for strengthening the international competitiveness of Korean beauty education by conducting an in-depth exploration of learning satisfaction, life satisfaction, and career awareness among international students enrolled in K-Beauty departments. To this end, a Focus Group Interview (FGI) was conducted with international students majoring in K-Beauty at OO University located in Gyeonggi Province, with the aim of examining the interaction structure among learning satisfaction, life satisfaction, and career awareness. Colaizzi’s (1978) phenomenological analysis procedure was applied to data collected from a total of 28 international students. As a result, four core themes were identified: practice-oriented learning and the enhancement of intrinsic learning motivation, language and cultural barriers and cognitive load, the formation of career decision self-efficacy and the coexistence of anxiety, and the reconstruction of selfidentity through K-Beauty. The findings of this study provide integrated empirical support for Self-Determination Theory, Well-being Theory, and Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT), and propose a Learning–Emotion–Career Integration Model in which learning satisfaction sequentially influences life satisfaction and career awareness. Furthermore, the results offer practical implications for the internationalization of K-Beauty education, the development of support policies for international students, and the design of culturally integrative educational programs. In conclusion, an in-depth understanding of international students’ learning and career experiences is expected to contribute to the establishment of effective internationalization strategies for K-Beauty education and to provide practical directions for improving educational environments for instructors, administrators, and policymakers.