The Education Ministry says it will launch a pan-government task force Sunday to attract foreign educational institutions in a more effective and systematic fashion.

The team will be led by the ministry’s human resources policy director and consist of ten officials from the finance, education and economy ministries, the Presidential Council on National Competitiveness, the Incheon Free Economic Zone Authority, and civic experts.

The government says efforts to attract foreign schools have been less than satisfactory despite the enactment of a law on boosting foreign investment in free economic zones and the tentative allowance of foreign educational institutions to raise the quota of domestic students to 30 percent of admissions.

But the University of Helsinki in March was denied a permit to open a campus on Korea's Jeju Island, and an application to open an international school in New Songdo City near Incheon was also denied in late July.

The task force will first work on the Songdo international school project by unifying ministry channels, maintain a 24-hour consultation channel, and improve laws and regulations. The ministry will also introduce a system to review foreign candidates early to reduce the overall assessment process.