Scholarships to Study in South Korea (2027) for International Students

South Korea admits international students into a mostly Korean-taught higher education system built around two intakes, Spring in March and a smaller Fall in September, alongside a growing number of English-taught programmes. National universities such as Seoul National University and KAIST charge international students the same tuition as Korean students, while private universities generally set a separate, higher schedule; POSTECH funds every admitted freshman's first-semester tuition in full. International students hold a D-2 student visa, can work part time with prior permission, and a graduate of a Korean institution can generally move to a D-10 job-seeking visa for up to two years after finishing.

Verified 7 Sep 2026 Sources

Korea's national Global Korea Scholarship (GKS) is the largest government scheme, covering tuition, a monthly stipend, travel and Korean-language training for a competitive group of undergraduate and graduate students, applied for either through a Korean embassy abroad or through a nominating university. Individual universities layer their own scholarships on top: KAIST and POSTECH fund tuition for essentially every admitted student without a separate scholarship application, several private universities award tuition waivers automatically based on rank in the admission evaluation itself, and most universities also offer merit scholarships from the second semester onward tied to GPA. None of these is designed to cover a student's full living costs on its own, so most students combine a scholarship with personal or family funding.