The purpose of this paper is to investigate the importance and roles of English for Academic Purposes (EAP) for Korean postgraduate engineering students in the era of globalization. This research examines the perceptions of Korean postgraduate engineering students themselves and subject lecturers in an institution of science and technology in Korea by using semi-structured interviews. The research demonstrated that the role of English was considered as being pivotal for communication for Korean postgraduate engineering students in their academic sectors. English was recognized as a powerful medium of international communication, needed for acceptance as qualified members in the international engineering community. English was also considered as the dominant information carrier in engineering and an essential factor for efficient study and academic success.