How to Apply for the 2018 Korean Government Scholarship Program

How to Apply for the 2018 Korean Government Scholarship Program

The Korean government offers Korean Government Scholarship Program for young individuals that want to study in South Korea. For the year 2018, they are inviting 780 international students from 156 countries, for degree (Master’s & Doctoral) and non-degree research programs.The National Institute of International Education (NIIED), an executive agency under the Ministry of Education, offers oversea students a fully-funded scholarships, monthly living allowance, with other monetary benefits.
These scholarships aim at attracting more foreigners to pursue their degree in Korea. Therefore, every year hundreds of people are invited for their bachelor, master, or PhD studies. The actual number varies each year, and for the latest term the number of accepted bachelor students was 79, and 670 for master + PhD students combined.

Scholarship Benefits

Airfare

• Entry to Korea: an economy class flight ticket to Korea
• Return flight: an economy class flight ticket from Korea to KGSP scholar’s home country 
• The airfare for entry will NOT be provided to scholars who have resided in Korea from the time of applying and on. 
• The return flight is available only for the KGSP scholars who successfully complete their degree coursework. 
• The return flight is NOT offered for those who withdraw from the scholarship. 
• Any fees incurred in the domestic travel within a KGSP scholar’s home country are NOT covered. 
• International travel insurance is NOT covered. 
• The flight tickets for the Chinese and Czech KGSP scholars will be prepared and provided by the Chinese and the Czech governments, according to the agreements with the Korean government.

Settlement Allowance: 200,000 KRW

Monthly Allowance

• Degree Program (Master’s or Doctoral): 900,000 KRW
• Research Program: 1,500,000 KRW

Research Allowance

• Liberal Arts and Social Science Degrees: 210,000 KRW per semester
• Science, Technology and Engineering Degrees: 240,000 KRW per semester

Language Training Fees: Fully covered

ELIGIBILITY

1. Nationality

• Applicants and their parents must hold foreign citizenship.
• Korean citizens, including those who hold dual citizenship, are NOT eligible to apply.
• Applicants and their parents who had previously held Korean citizenship must submit the document of the renunciation of their Korean citizenship.

2. Age

• Applicants must be under 40 years of age as of September 1, 2018 (born after September 1, 1977).

• He or she is a citizen of one of the countries below.

Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Angola, Argentina, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Belarus, Belize, Benin, Bhutan, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Chile, China, Colombia, Comoros, Democratic Republic of Congo, Republic of Congo, Costa Rica, Cote d’Ivoire, Djibouti, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, The Gambia, Georgia, Ghana, Guatemala, Guinea, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Jamaica, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kyrgyz Republic, Laos, Lebanon, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Malaysia, Maldives, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mexico, Moldova, Mongolia, Montenegro, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia, Nepal, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Pakistan, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Rwanda, Senegal, Serbia, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Swaziland, Syria, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Togo, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Uganda, Ukraine, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, Venezuela, Vietnam, Zambia, Zimbabwe

3. Degree Requirements

• Applicants must hold a Bachelor’s or Master’s degree as of August 31, 2018.
• A Bachelor ’s degree, or a diploma equivalent to a Bachelor ’s degree, is required for a Master ’s program applicant.
• A Maste r’s degree, or a diploma equivalent to a Master ’s degree, is required for a Doctoral program applicant.
• The Research Program applicants must hold a degree, or a diploma equivalent to or higher than a Master ’s degree as of August 31, 2018. 
• Postdoctoral Research Program: A Doctoral degree, or a diploma equivalent to a Doctoral degree, is required.
• Professor Exchange Program: A Master ’s degree, or a diploma equivalent to or higher than a Master ’s degree, is required.
• An Applicant who is expected to obtain the official diploma by August 31, 2018 must submit a certificate of expected degree at the time of applying. The official diploma must be submitted as soon as it is issued.
• Applicants who have completed a Bachelor’s, Master’s or Doctoral degree in Korea are NOT eligible to apply.

This restriction does not apply for Overseas Korean Adoptee applicants.

4. Grades
Applicants must maintain a grade point average (GPA) 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 percentile: 80%

Please refer to the Appendix A for the GPA conversion table.

Any applications with a GPA below the threshold above will be automatically disqualified and discarded.

It is required to submit an official document issued by the applicant’ s alma mater describing the university’ sevaluation system as well as the applicant’ s academic achievement in any ONE of the following cases:

An applicant’ s transcript does not include information on GPA, marks or score percentile; or
The grades on an applicant’ s transcript are difficult to be converted into any one of the GPA criteria mentioned above.

APPLICATION PROCEDURE

1. How to Apply

a. Applicants must apply for the Korean Government Scholarship Program either through the Korean Embassy in their home country or one of the selected universities.

Offices accepting applications

• 117 Embassies of the Republic of Korea: At some embassies, the Korean Education Center or the Korean Cultural Center is the department in charge of accepting and reviewing the KGSP applications.
• Contacting the embassy to inquire on the department in charge is strongly recommended.

• 65 Universities in Korea

b. The application submitted to more than ONE office above, will be automatically disqualified and discarded.

c. Those who apply as overseas Korean adoptees must apply through the Korean Embassy in their home countries. Only those from the selected 12 countries are eligible to apply under this option.

d.KGSP alumni are eligible to apply through the Embassy Track only.

e. Applicants from China must submit their applications to the China Scholarship Council, in accordance with the agreement between the government of Korea and the government of China.

f. Applicants from the Czech Republic must submit their applications to the Ministry of Education of the Czech Republic, in accordance with the agreement between the government of Korea and the government of the Czech Republic.

2. Deadline of Application Submission

a.The deadlines are set by the Korean Embassies and universities that accept applications.

b. Applicants must check the deadline of the embassy or of the university by contacting them directly.

c. Please refer to the following:

• Contact information for embassies: See Appendix B.
• Contact information for universities: See Appendix C or the University Information file, announced along with the current application guidelines.

3. Fields of Study and University Choice

(1) Embassy Track

• Applicants must choose THREE desired universities as well as fields of study out of the 66 universities listed above in section III.
• Applications that pass the 2nd round of selection will be reviewed by the universities for admission. (Please refer to “4. Selection Procedure” below.)

(2) University Track

• Applicants must choose ONE desired university out of the 66 universities listed above in section III.

(3) For the list of available universities and degree programs, please refer to the “University Information” file, announced along with the guidelines.


You can also read the Frequently Asked Questions about NIIED KGSP Scholarship 2018.

You can check the complete application guidelines and application forms here:
1. Application Guidelines
2. University information
3. Application Forms (“.docx” format)

Check the guidelines carefully for further information such as the eligibility requirements, required documents and directions to submit the application.

The deadline will be decided by each office that accepts the application documents, i.e. the Korean Embassies or selected universities. Please make sure to check their separate announcement for the deadlines.

Thank you and good luck!