Do you want to do more than just travel in South Korea with little to no cost at all? If so, then there are multiple scholarships provided by the Korean government and many reputable universities for international students to study in Korea. Whether you want to attain your undergraduate, masters or PhD degree or simply partake in an exchange program, below is a list of 10 partially funded and fully funded scholarships in Korea for international students available to assist in your study in South Korea.
List of Scholarships in Korea
Global Korea Scholarship (GKS)
The Global Korea Scholarship is offered by the South Korean government to international students who want to study or undergo training in South Korea. Some scholarships in Korea under GKS include, GKS invitation program for partner countries, GKS for ASEAN countries’ Science and Engineering Students, GKS summer program for African and Latin American Students and others.
Below are details of selected list of scholarship opportunities under Global Korea Scholarship:
Korean Government Scholarship Program (KGSP)
KGSP is offered to international students who want to undertake advanced studies in undergraduate, masters or PhD in any of the selected universities in South Korea with English and Korean options depending on the university and preferred program. The scholarship is fully funded and covers airfare, tuition, settlement allowance in the first month of arrival, monthly allowance, research allowance every semester of the degree program, Korean language training fee, scholarship completion grant, dissertation printing fee reimbursement and medical insurance.
In short, all you must do is pack your bags and get ready to explore South Korea when you finally receive that final acceptance letter. Also, this means there will be thousands of people across the world applying for this scholarship so be ready for some tough competition.
Once accepted for this scholarship, visa re-issuance, acquiring alien registration card and others are a breeze and you also benefit from getting information about workshops, job fairs, free trips, networking parties and others. However, you need to make sure to get at least TOPIK 3 by the end of the language year and maintain a minimum of 80% of your grade percentage during your degree program.
There are two tracks in applying for this scholarship; the embassy track where you apply through the embassy which also gives you the chance to select three universities of your choice and the university track where you apply directly through the university but you have the option of applying through only one university.
For more information, check out study in korea or visit the website of the Korean embassy in your country.
Application date: Every year (September-October for undergraduates, February-March for graduate students)
Korean Government Support for Foreign Exchange Student
If you want to participate in an exchange program in Korea but are worried about the costs involved, don’t fret! This 4-10 month scholarship is provided to foreign students to have a meaningful Korean cultural and educational experience. This scholarship covers living expenses, settlement allowance, airfare and medical insurance.
This scholarship is limited to universities selected by NIIED so check out study in korea to know if your university qualifies for this package.
Support for Self-Financed Students
For students who finance their education in Korea out of their own pockets, the Korean government provides living expenses per month for 10 months to motivate such students.
To apply for this package, visit study in korea, fill the online document, print it out and submit it to your university.
KOICA Scholarship Program
The Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) offers fully funded scholarships to government officials in developing countries who can contribute to the socio-economic development of their home countries to study for their postgraduate degree. The scholarship covers airfare, tuition, monthly allowance, accommodation, settlement allowance, medical insurance, scholarship completion grants and other expenses.
This scholarship is limited to government employees to study in development related courses in any of the participating universities in Korea for a limited period. Once accepted for the scholarship, all you must do is pack your bag and get ready to benefit from special mentorship programs, leadership seminars, conferences and others organized for KOICA students.
For more information, contact the KOICA office in your home country or check out KOICA website to know if your country has cooperative relationship with KOICA.
Application Date: March every year
Ewha Womans University
Ewha Womans University offers scholarships to both undergraduate and graduate students from partially funded to fully funded scholarships. Fully funded scholarships include the Ewha Global Partnership Program for women from developing countries which covers tuition including admission fee, dormitory fees and stipend. Partially funded scholarships include the ISS HH1, which covers half tuition including admission fee for 1 semester under the International Students Scholarship(ISS) which has both partial and fully funded scholarship options.
The Graduate School of International Studies (GSIS) provides scholarships for international students in Korea such as the GSIS Sun which covers half tuition to outstanding students and scholarship on working basis such as the Student Assistantship Scholarship depending on the working hours.
Whether you are an incoming student or a registered student, there are several options available to choose from.
Application date varies depending on the scholarship. For more information, check out the Ewha Womans University website or visit the International Students Affairs office.
Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST)
KAIST provides the KAIST International Students Scholarship to both undergraduate and graduate students. The scholarship covers full tuition, living expenses, medical insurance and an additional stipend for research assistants. The application period is during the same period of admission.
There are other scholarships for country specific students such as the China-KAIST scholarship, Russian Government scholarship, Taiwan-KAIST scholarship and Science without borders. The application period varies depending on the scholarship.
For more information, visit KAIST website.
Seoul National University
Seoul National University provides internal scholarships awarded every semester and external scholarships provided until graduation. Scholarships are offered to both new and current undergraduate and graduate students under either merit-based, general or work-study basis. There are also scholarship opportunities for exchange students. The scholarships cover either full or half tuition, living expenses and others.
Application date varies depending on the scholarship. For more information, check out the division of welfare and scholarship website.
Korea University
Korea University provides scholarships under the basis of academic excellence, academic improvement and need based to undergraduate and graduate students. It ranges from 50% tuition waiver to 100% tuition waiver.
The Graduate School of International Studies offers partial and fully funded scholarships for newly admitted and current international students. There is also a work-based scholarship that gives opportunity for students to undertake research/teaching assistantship for financial remuneration.
Application date varies depending on the scholarship and application can be done through the International Students Office. For more information, visit Korea University website.
Yonsei University
Yonsei University provides scholarships to international undergraduate and graduate students studying a wide variety of courses. The partial and fully funded scholarships in Korea offered ranges from admissions to merit-based, need-based, work-study, internship scholarship and others.
The Underwood International College is Korea’s first English-language liberal arts college with international students from 66 countries and offers undergraduate students full tuition waiver for four years to half or one-third tuition per semester.
The Graduate School of International Studies offers institutional and external scholarships to graduate students under the department.
For more information on the scholarships and application procedure, visit Yonsei University website.
Sogang University
Sogang University provides partial and fully funded scholarships to both undergraduate and graduate international students. Under the scholarships for undergraduate international students, there are the admission scholarship for freshmen and the Global Emerging scholarship which are both divided into categories. For the scholarships for graduate international students, there are different scholarships provided for students under the graduate program, Graduate School of International Studies and Sogang International MBA (SIMBA). The application period and procedure varies depending on the scholarship.
For more information on requirements and application procedures, visit Sogang University website.
Kyung Hee University
Kyung Hee University provides partially funded and fully funded scholarships for international students in Korea ranging from admission scholarships to post-enrollment scholarships. The scholarships cover either half or full tuition, graded payment or a designated amount of money per time.
Scholarship offers are announced along with admission acceptance results and there are other available scholarships announced within each semester.
For more information on scholarship application procedure, visit Kyung Hee University website.
Ulsan National University of Science and Technology (UNIST)
UNIST offers the UNIST scholarship to graduate students which covers tuition. Other scholarships include Stipend which covers tuition and stipend and Teaching Assistantship scholarship which gives students the opportunity to work for remuneration.
There are also scholarships provided to undergraduate students ranging from admission to full tuition waiver and work-study scholarships. For more information, visit UNIST website.
If you found this article helpful, leave a comment below! For more information on English courses and universities that offer them, check out our article on ‘The Top 10 Graduate Schools of International Studies in Korea‘.