Introduction

Global Korea Scholarship (also known as Korean Government Scholarship Program) is awarded to approximately 870 people every year with a purpose of providing international students with opportunities to conduct advanced studies in undergraduate & graduate programs at higher educational institutions in the Republic of Korea in order to promote international exchanges in education and mutual friendship between countries.

Available Degree Programs: Undergraduate, Graduate

Field of Study:

UNDERGRADUATE	GRADUATE
All 4-year Bachelor’s Degree programs offered at 63 universities designated by NIIED. Any degree program which takes more than 4 years to complete is NOT AVAILABLE under this scholarship program. All applicants cannot choose such degree programs (Examples: medicine, dentistry, architecture, and pharmacy)	All available graduate courses offered by 67 universities designated by NIIED. The list of universities and available fields can be found online on www.studyinkorea.go.kr website.

Scholarship Announcement Date

Undergraduate	Graduate
Early September	Early February

Scholarship Benefits

• Airfare

• Monthly living allowance: undergraduate 800,000 KRW, graduate 900,000 KRW

• Tuition fees /No more than 5 million KRW per semester/

• Resettlement allowance 200,000 KRW

• Completion grant 100,000 KRW

• Korean language courses

• Medical Insurance /20,000 KRW per month/

• Award for Excellent Korean Language Proficiency - 100,000 KRW

• Research Support

• Printing costs

Eligibility

Undergraduate:

• An applicant and his or her parents must be citizens of Mongolia (Neither the applicant nor the parents should hold the Korean citizenship.) Applicants and their parents who had previously held Korean citizenship must submit the document that proves their renunciation of Korean citizenship.

• An applicant must be under the age of 25

• An applicant must be in good health, both physically and mentally. Those with disabilities, but in good mental and physical health, are eligible to apply. Those with severe illness are NOT ELIGIBLE to apply.

• An applicant must have graduated or be expected to graduate from a high school.

• Those who have already achieved a Bachelor’s degree or a higher degree are NOT ELIGIBLE to apply.

• Those who have graduated or are expected to graduate from a high school in Korea are NOT ELIGIBLE to apply.

• An applicant must maintain the overall grade point average (CGPA) equivalent to or higher than any ONE of the followings:

• 2.64 on a 4.0 scale;

• 2.80 on a 4.3 scale;

• 2.91 on a 4.5 scale;

• 3.23 on a 5.0 scale; or

• Score: 80 points or above on a 100 point scale or be ranked within the top 20% throughout the entire high school period.

• An applicant should never have been awarded with any scholarship programs from Korea for an undergraduate degree program.

• An applicant must have no limitations in travelling abroad

• Applicants who have proficiency in the Korean or English language will be given preference.

• Engineering and Science majors will be given preference.

• Applicants from low income families or underprivileged backgrounds will be given preference.

• An applicant is restricted to apply either for the Embassy, the Regional University, or the Associate Degree track. Applicants who apply for more than one track will be automatically disqualified and their applications will be eliminated.

Graduate:

• All applicants and their parents must not hold Korean citizenship. Korean citizens and dual citizenship holders (one who have Korean citizenship and citizenship of another country) are NOT eligible to apply.

• Must be under 40 years of age

• Academic professors who are under 45 years of age

• Applicants must hold or must be expected to hold a Bachelor’s, Master’s or a Doctoral degree by the time the scholarship program commences.

Doctoral Program Applicants: Must hold a Master’s degree or a level of education equivalent to a Master’s degree

Master’s Program Applicants: Must hold a Bachelor’s degree or a level of education equivalent to a Bachelor’s degree

Research Program Applicants: Must hold a degree or a level of education equivalent to or higher than a Master’s degree and must have received an invitation from one of NIIED‟s designated Korean universities.

Postdoctoral Research Program: Must hold a doctoral degree or a level of education equivalent to a doctoral degree.

Professor Exchange Program: Must hold a Master’s degree or a level of education equivalent to or higher than a Master’s degree.

Program for Education, Science, Culture, International Professionals: Must hold a Master’s degree or a level of education equivalent to or higher than a Master’s degree.

• Prospective applicants who have attained a Bachelor’s, Master’s, or a doctoral degree in Korea are NOT eligible to apply. (※Exception: Overseas Korean Adoptees and GKS scholars). Applicants who have previously studied in a Korean university as exchange or visiting students can apply to this program.

 ※ GPA: Grade Point Average, CGPA: Cumulative (overall) Grade Point Average

• All applicants must have maintained the overall grade point average (CGPA) equivalent to or higher than any ONE of the following from their respective universities:

• 2.64 on a 4.0 scale;

• 2.80 on a 4.3 scale;

• 2.91 on a 4.5 scale;

• 3.23 on a 5.0 scale; or

• Score percentile: 80% or above (Exception: GKS scholars must hold the grade of 90% or above)

• All applicants must be in good health, both mentally and physically, to study in Korea for the full duration of degree or research programs.

• Former applicants who had withdrawn from the scholarship after being selected as GKS scholars (applicable to those who did not come to Korea after being selected as GKS scholars and who had resigned from their studies) in the past are strictly NOT eligible to apply.

• (Prior Notice) Effective 2020: Previous GKS scholars whose scholarship was forfeited during the scholarship period are strictly forbidden to reapply to Global Korea Scholarship program.

• Applicants who received outstanding scores for their proficiency in Korean or English may be given preference. Some examples include the followings:

• Applicants who apply for majors in the field of Natural Science and Engineering are given priority when they receive same marks with other candidates.

• Applicants who apply for majors under the Industrial Professionals Training Project are given priority when they receive same marks with other candidates.

• Academic professors holding citizenship of developing countries, especially ODA recipients, are given priority when they receive same marks with other candidates.

• Applicants from low income families or underprivileged backgrounds will be given preference.

Required Documents

UNDERGRADUATE	GRADUATE
Completed Application Form	Applicant Form
GKS Applicant Agreement	Personal Statement
Personal Statement	Statement of Purpose
Study Plan	2 Recommendation Letters
2 Recommendation Letters	GKS Applicant Agreement
Completed Self Medical Assessment	Personal Medical Assessment
Graduation Certificate of High School or Provisional Graduation Certificate	Certificate of Bachelor‟s degree or Bachelor‟s Diploma (Original) Bachelor‟s degree Transcript (Original)
High School grade transcript	Certificate of Master‟s degree or Master‟s Diploma (Original) Master‟s degree Transcript (Original)
Certificates of Citizenship of the Applicant and Parents	Applicant‟s Proof of Citizenship Document Applicant‟s Parent‟s Proof of Citizenship Document
Awards (Optional)	Certificate of valid TOPIK score or/and Certificate of valid English Proficiency Test (Optional)
TOEFL, TOEIC, IELTS, TOPIK certificates (Optional)	Awards, Published Papers, Research papers, and etc. (Optional)

Selection Process

You may apply to GKS Scholarship either through the university you are applying for or through the Korean Embassy in your country/University Track & Embassy Track/. Number of documents to submit may differ depending on the track of your choice. Applicants who plan to apply to GKS through the University Track must submit their applications to the university of their choice. Embassy Track applicants must submit their application documents to the Embassy of the Republic of Korea in their respective countries of citizenship.

1st round of Selection

Applicants submit applications to Korean Embassies or Korean universities designated by NIIED. Each embassy and university selects candidates among the applicants based on NIIED‟s selection criteria.

Each embassy and university will send the 1st round successful candidates applications and related documents to NIIED in early April.

2nd round of Selection

The NIIED Selection Committee conducts the 2nd round of selection among candidates that passed the 1st round of selection.

University Track applicants who pass the 2nd round of selection are granted admission to the university. In order to be selected as GKS scholars, these University Track applicants MUST submit their comprehensive medical examination results and other additional required documents.

3rd round of Selection (Embassy Track Applicants ONLY)

The applications of the 2nd round successful candidates will finally be reviewed by the universities for admission. The final round successful candidates must receive admission from at least one of the universities they applied in order to be selected as GKS Scholars.

 

For more information regarding this scholarship program, please visit

www.studyinkorea.go.kr. Also, embassy track application dates for the prospective year is announced on the MECSS website.

 

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