2027 Global Korea Scholarship UG – Complete Guide

2027 cycle · Guidelines published September 2026 · Updated 10 September 2026

NIIED has released the application guidelines for the 2027 Global Korea Scholarship – Undergraduate Degrees (GKS-U). Two hundred and eighty-six students from 74 partner countries — plus, through one programme, from anywhere in the world — will have a Korean bachelor’s or associate degree paid for in full, along with a year of Korean language study, a monthly living allowance and their flights.

The embassy application window is short: 15 to 30 September 2026, entirely online. This guide works through the programme the way an applicant actually meets it — what is on offer, whether you qualify, which route to take, how to assemble the application, and how the three rounds of selection really decide. Every rule and figure is drawn from the official English guidelines, with the paragraph-level detail that determines outcomes rather than a summary of the headlines.

1.1What GKS-U funds

GKS is a Korean government scholarship administered by the National Institute for International Education. Its stated purpose is to widen educational exchange and strengthen ties between Korea and partner countries; in practice it is one of the few genuinely complete undergraduate scholarships available anywhere. Nothing is a loan and nothing is repaid, provided the scholar completes the programme.

That monthly figure is doing more work than it first appears. NIIED classifies it as an all-inclusive subsidy, meaning it already contains what other scholarships list separately: housing, health insurance, the Korean proficiency grants, TOPIK examination fees, the settlement allowance on arrival and the degree-completion grant at the end. No separate accommodation payment exists. Rent or dormitory fees are drawn from the same ₩1,200,000, which is precisely why NIIED’s own remark about higher living costs in the capital region belongs in your university shortlist rather than in a footnote.

Programme length

Scholars who already hold TOPIK Level 5 or 6 are exempted from the language year and enter their degree directly — see 5.2.

1.2The five programmes

GKS-U is not one competition but five, running in parallel under two tracks. They differ in who screens you first, how many institutions you may name, how many rounds you face, and — decisively — how many people you are competing against.

General — 88 places

The programme most applicants default to. You name up to three universities in order of preference, drawn from both the Type A and Type B lists, and at least one of the three must come from Type B. It is also, alongside the much smaller Overseas Koreans & Adoptees programme, one of only two routes that reach the Type A institutions — Seoul National, Yonsei, Korea, Sungkyunkwan, Hanyang, POSTECH, UNIST and twenty-one others.

R-GKS — 61 places, 52 countries

A regional programme. You choose up to two universities and both must be Type B, meaning institutions outside the capital region. Majors tied to a region’s priority fields and specialised industries under the ANCHOR regional talent-development system carry evaluation preference. One hard constraint governs the form itself: enter a Type A institution in any Type B choice field and the whole application drops out of evaluation.

Overseas Koreans & Adoptees — 7 places, 7 countries

A small programme restricted to eligible overseas Koreans and Korean adoptees, allocated to Brazil, Canada, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Ukraine and Uzbekistan. Applicants must document their status and their family relationship to a lineal ascendant. University choice rules follow the General programme: up to three, at least one Type B.

UIC — 100 places, no country limit

The University–Industry Cooperation programme sits under the University Track and is the largest single programme in GKS-U. It runs at thirteen institutions in natural science and engineering fields, with curricula built around industry partnership, field experience and post-graduation employment support. Its defining feature for applicants is in the guidelines’ own words: UIC is open to all countries around the world, Korea excepted. National quotas do not apply. An applicant from a country holding a single embassy place has exactly the same standing here as one from a country holding four.

Associate Degree — 30 places

Two- to three-year associate degrees at nine vocational institutions, applied for directly to the college under the University Track. Winners of national-level technical skills competitions are listed among the applicants given evaluation preference.

1.3Country quotas: all 74 countries

Embassy-track places are allocated country by country under bilateral cultural and educational agreements. The table below is the complete 2027 allocation. Find your country before you decide anything else: the number in the final column is the size of the competition you are entering, and the R-GKS column tells you whether the second, thinner pool is even open to you.

A dash means no places are allocated to that country under that programme. Totals reconcile to 88 General, 61 R-GKS and 7 Overseas Koreans & Adoptees, for 156 embassy-track scholars. NIIED notes that a Korean embassy may, depending on local circumstances, decline to recommend a candidate at all.

2.1The five eligibility gates

Eligibility is screened before anyone reads your essays. Every round begins with a review of eligibility and only those who clear it proceed to the competency review. Five conditions must hold.

Gate 1 — Citizenship

• You must hold citizenship of a country on the 2027 partner list, except for UIC applicants, who may hold any citizenship other than Korean.
• Neither you nor your parents or legal guardians may hold Korean citizenship. Dual citizenship that includes Korean citizenship, in you or in a parent, disqualifies.
• You and your parents may hold different citizenships from one another; that is not a problem, provided none of them is Korean.
• If you or a parent formerly held Korean citizenship, you must produce Korean government documentation of its definite loss and the date. An application or receipt for renunciation will not be accepted.
• A change of citizenship during the selection process results in exclusion, UIC applicants excepted.

Gate 2 — Age

Under 25, meaning born after 1 March 2002. The guidelines set no minimum age; in practice the education requirement supplies one.

Gate 3 — Level of education

• Bachelor’s applicants must have graduated, or expect to graduate by 31 December 2026, from high school or from an associate degree programme.
• Associate applicants must have graduated, or expect to graduate by that date, from high school.
• Holders of an associate degree may apply only to the bachelor’s programme.
• Holders of a bachelor’s degree are ineligible for GKS-U in any form, including for a different major. The graduate programme is the route for them.
• Applicants graduating later than 31 December 2026 must wait for the next cycle. A school year that ends in February or March 2027 does not qualify.

Gate 4 — Grades

Covered in detail in 2.2. In short: 80 on a 100-point scale, or the top 20% of your class, or a CGPA at or above the listed thresholds.

Gate 5 — Health and conduct

Applicants must be in good physical and mental health for the full duration of the programme, declared on Form 6, and must have no grounds for disqualification from overseas travel, such as a criminal record.

2.2Grades and CGPA conversion

Your grade point average is taken over the entire curriculum of your previous programme — all of high school for a school leaver, all of the associate degree for an associate graduate. Three alternative routes clear the bar, and meeting any one is sufficient.

If your grading system is not one of the five accepted scales

NIIED recognises exactly five: 4.0, 4.3, 4.5, 5.0 and the 100-point scale. National systems that fall outside them — 10-point, 20-point, letter-only, pass/merit/distinction, and many others — require two additional documents:

1. An official explanation of the grading system, issued by your school, university or a government body such as the ministry of education.
2. A converted grade confirmed by your own institution. The conversion must be authenticated by the school or university — an original document carrying its seal. It does not need an apostille.

Filling in the grade fields

• If your transcript gives only a cumulative figure and no year-by-year breakdown, leave the per-year fields empty — but you must enter the CGPA, and above all the percentage, for the whole curriculum.
• If no percentage appears on the transcript, convert your CGPA using Appendix A of the guidelines.
• Transferred between schools and your transcript omits the earlier marks? Submit the previous school’s academic record as a supplementary document.
• In countries where a graduation examination report serves as the official academic record, that report may be used to assess grade eligibility. Supplying the full curriculum record alongside it is recommended.

Appendix A conversion — reference points

Selected rows. The published table runs in single-point steps from 80 to 100; the highlighted row is the eligibility floor.

2.3What bars an applicant outright

Several of these are discovered after selection rather than before it, and the consequence at that stage is cancellation of the scholarship.

Prior study in Korea

• Graduating, or expecting to graduate, from a high school located in Korea, international schools included.
• Graduating, or expecting to graduate, from a Korean associate degree programme.
• Graduating from an online curriculum run by an institution located in Korea.
• Being currently in the final year at a high school or university located in Korea.

Prior Korean government funding

• Any previous Korean government scholarship for a degree programme, from NIIED or any other agency.
• Being a former GKS scholar who held a degree-programme scholarship.
• Having had a GKS scholarship cancelled after starting a degree or the IRTS Korean language programme.
• Having withdrawn or been disqualified after selection as a GKS scholar within the past three years.

Duplicate applications

• Embassy applicants must choose one programme: General, R-GKS, or Overseas Koreans & Adoptees.
• University applicants must choose one programme, one university and one department.
• Applying across more than one track or programme means the application is disregarded — and the scholarship cancelled if the duplication surfaces after selection.

3.1Embassy track or university track

Most guidance treats the embassy track as the default and the university track as the consolation. That framing does not survive contact with the numbers: the university track holds 130 of the 286 places, and 100 of those sit in a programme with no national ceiling at all. The right question is not which track is better but which one fits your field, your country’s allocation and your tolerance for the third round.

A short decision framework

3.2The participating institutions

Seventy institutions take embassy-track scholars, divided by NIIED into Type A (28) and Type B (42). Thirteen run UIC and nine run the associate programme, with some overlap between the lists.

Type A — 28 institutions

Open to General and Overseas Koreans & Adoptees applicants. Closed to R-GKS.

• Ajou University
• Chung-Ang University
• Dongguk University
• Ewha Womans University
• Hankuk University of Foreign Studies
• Hansung University
• Hanyang University
• Hongik University
• Incheon National University
• Inha University
• Kookmin University
• Korea University
• Kyungdong University
• KyungHee University
• Myongji University
• POSTECH
• Sejong University
• Seokyeong University
• Seoul National University
• Seoul National University of Science and Technology
• Sogang University
• Soongsil University
• Sungkyunkwan University
• Sungshin Women’s University
• The Catholic University of Korea
• UNIST
• University of Seoul
• Yonsei University

Type B — 42 institutions

Open to all embassy programmes. General applicants must include at least one; R-GKS applicants choose only from here.

• Busan University of Foreign Studies
• Changwon National University
• Cheongju University
• Chonnam National University
• Chosun University
• Chungbuk National University
• Chungnam National University
• Daegu Catholic University
• Daegu University
• Daejeon University
• Dong-A University
• Gyeongkuk National University
• Gyeongsang National University
• Hanbat National University
• Hannam University
• Hoseo University
• Inje University
• Jeju National University
• Jeonbuk National University
• Kangwon National University
• Keimyung University
• Kongju National University
• Konyang University
• Korea National University of Transportation
• KOREATECH
• Kunsan National University
• Kyungpook National University
• Kyungsung University
• Kyungwoon University
• Mokwon University
• Pai Chai University
• Pukyong National University
• Pusan National University
• Semyung University
• Silla University
• Soonchunhyang University
• Sun Moon University
• Sunchon National University
• Tongmyong University
• University of Ulsan
• Wonkwang University
• Yeungnam University

UIC — 13 institutions, department by department

Associate degree — 9 institutions

• Busan Institute of Science and Technology
• Cheju Halla University
• Dong-Eui Institute of Technology
• Induk University
• Korea University of Media Arts
• Kyungbok University
• Kyung-In Women’s University
• Kyungnam College of Information & Technology
• Yeungnam University College

3.3Selecting universities and departments

The embassy track has three rounds, and the third is where well-qualified candidates most often lose. NIIED’s own guidance states the risk plainly: where applications concentrate at particular universities, a candidate may fail at every preference in the third round even after passing the NIIED second round. And: candidates who are not accepted by any of the universities to which they applied will be disqualified from the programme.

The rules

• The same department may be named at all three universities; three different departments at a single university may not.
• List them in genuine order of preference. Where more than one university accepts you, you select between them yourself by 29 December.
• Neither the field of study nor the university may be changed after final selection — not during the language year, not by transfer, not at all.

Five principles for building the list

1. Spread the three, do not stack them. One ambitious choice, one strong fit, one where your profile is clearly competitive. A list of three heavily oversubscribed institutions is the most common avoidable failure in the programme.
2. Match subject strength, not general reputation. Korean institutions specialise sharply, and NIIED explicitly advises identifying the leading institutions in your intended field. A department that leads nationally in your subject and receives a handful of applications in it is a materially better bet than a household name receiving several hundred.
3. Check the language threshold before anything else. Entry to the degree after the language year is gated on TOPIK, and individual departments set that gate at Level 3 or Level 4. Committing to a threshold you have no realistic path to reaching postpones the failure by a year rather than avoiding it. Where a department’s requirements or teaching language differ from the norm, the University Information file is where that is stated.
4. Price the location. Accommodation comes out of the allowance, and NIIED notes capital-region living costs are higher. The same ₩1,200,000 stretches considerably further outside Seoul.
5. Write the department into your study plan. The third round is judged by the university itself. Naming actual courses, laboratories or research centres from that department’s curriculum takes an hour of reading and separates you from applicants who submitted a generic plan to all three.

4.1The schedule, round by round

All times are Korea Standard Time, UTC+9. Convert carefully: an 18:00 KST deadline falls on the morning of the same day across the Americas and in the early afternoon across South and Southeast Asia. It is not a local midnight anywhere.

Embassy track

University track

4.2The eighteen documents

NIIED numbers the application set from 1 to 18. Items 1–7 are forms you complete; items 8–15 are certificates requiring legalisation; items 16–18 are optional. The list is identical for both tracks; only the delivery method differs.

Proving citizenship and family relationship

Item 8 causes more correspondence than any other. NIIED needs one government-issued document establishing both the relationship between you and your parents and the citizenship of all three of you. A birth certificate or family register is the usual instrument.

• Where the document does not state citizenship — the case in many countries — add passport copies for yourself and your parents as supplementary documents. Those copies do not themselves require legalisation; the birth certificate does.
• Where a parent holds no passport, any government-issued document or identity card clearly stating citizenship will serve.
• Ethnic group, place of birth and current residence are explicitly not accepted as evidence of citizenship. National identity documents that record only residence do not satisfy this requirement.
• Where a parent is deceased or the parents are divorced and the document cannot be obtained, submit a death certificate or divorce certificate explaining the absence.
• If supplementary documents still do not establish what is needed, the guidelines warn the application may be placed at a disadvantage.

Assembly rules that are actually enforced

• Documents in the order of the Application Checklist, which is page one of the application form and serves as the front cover of each set.
• Each document numbered and labelled in the top-right corner. NIIED’s own worked example reads “8. High School Graduation Certificate (Consular confirmed)” — use your own checklist number and your own form of legalisation.
• A4 or letter size throughout. Anything smaller mounted on blank A4; anything larger folded to A4.
• Your English name identical to your passport in every field, family, given and middle. Discrepancies delay visa processing.
• One copy of each document. Nothing submitted to NIIED is returned, in any circumstances.
• Every required signature present. Missing documents or signatures can mean exclusion from evaluation before assessment begins.

4.3Apostille or consular confirmation

This is where international applicants most often run out of time, and the rule is not the same for everyone. Which route applies to you depends on one thing: whether your country is party to the Hague Apostille Convention.

What requires legalisation, and what does not

Rules that catch people out

• A photocopy of a legalised document is not a legalised document. Simple photocopies and notary-attested copies of apostilled papers are rejected. The legalisation must sit on the paper you actually submit.
• A certified true copy (등본 인증) is accepted, but only from the government agency that issued the original apostille, or from a Korean embassy.
• Notarisation alone is insufficient — whether by a notary public or by another government agency.
• If a document cannot be reissued, keep the original, obtain a notarised copy, and put the apostille or consular confirmation on that.
• If a certificate of expected graduation cannot be legalised because of national policy, submit a legalised certificate of enrolment together with a notarised certificate of expected graduation. A bare enrolment certificate with no expected graduation date is not accepted.
• Validity: where the legalisation carries an expiry date, that date governs. Where it does not, the document is accepted within two years of the authentication date.
• Documents issued digitally still require an apostille or consular confirmation.

Translation

Documents in English or Korean need no translation. Anything else requires a certified translation, and the apostille or consular confirmation goes on either the original or the certified translation — not both.

4.4The four documents that decide it

Eligibility gets you read. What is read is Forms 1 to 4, and one of NIIED’s stated evaluation criteria is the completeness and authenticity of submitted documents — a criterion about the papers themselves, not only their contents.

Form 1 — the Application Form

• Must be written in English. The Personal Statement and Study Plan may be in English or Korean.
• Department names must match the University Information file exactly. Approximations can disqualify.
• Page one is the Application Checklist and becomes the cover of your document set.

Form 2 — the Personal Statement

The competency review weighs academic performance, language ability, academic activities, contributions to society and international exchange, and potential for future development. A statement that answers those five explicitly outperforms one that narrates a life.

• Open with something specific. A concrete episode — a problem you noticed, a thing you built, a decision you made — earns attention that a declaration of passion does not.
• Attach evidence to every claim. A rank, a project, a role, a number. Then ensure the matching certificate is among your five optional documents: the guidelines state those materials should substantiate the activities described in the Personal Statement and Study Plan.
• Be direct about disadvantage. Applicants from low-income families or underprivileged backgrounds are listed as receiving evaluation preference. Where that describes you, state it plainly and without embellishment.
• Answer “why Korea” through your field. Cultural interest is a common starting point and no reviewer holds it against you, but it cannot be the whole argument. What does Korea do in your discipline that your country does not? Which institution, industry or research area, and why there rather than elsewhere?
• Say what you will contribute. The programme exists to deepen educational exchange between Korea and partner countries. Name something concrete and proportionate to your age and stage.

Form 3 — the Study Plan

Strategically the more important of the two texts, because the third round is judged by the university, and a department assesses the study plan to decide whether you belong in it. Three parts:

1. Korean language plan. State your current level honestly, what you have already done about it, and precisely how you will reach TOPIK Level 3 within the language year — a hard requirement for progressing to the degree. Where your department requires Level 4, address that. Evidence that you began studying Korean before applying is worth more than any promise about the future.
2. Academic plan in Korea. Name the department exactly. Name real courses, laboratories, research centres or faculty from its actual curriculum. Sketch the progression year by year. Very few applicants do this, and it is visible immediately to the people deciding.
3. Plan after graduation. Graduate study, industry, returning home, working in Korea — any is acceptable, provided it coheres with everything above it and with the programme’s exchange purpose.

Form 4 — the Recommendation Letter

• Who: someone able to assess your academic ability thoroughly — a subject teacher, a principal, a department chair. A teacher who has taught you outweighs a senior figure who has not.
• How many: one is required; up to two may be submitted. Two strong letters from different vantage points is a legitimate use of that allowance.
• Currency: written within one year of the application deadline. Older letters are invalid.
• Embassy track: scan and upload the completed letter; the original follows if you clear round one.
• University track: the recommender must seal the letter in an envelope and sign across the back flap. It must arrive still sealed.
• Give your recommender a short brief — the programme, the department, three specific things you did under their supervision, and the deadline. The quality of the letter tracks the quality of the brief.

5.1How the committees score you

Every round runs in two stages. First an eligibility review — citizenship, education level, grades, documents. Only those who pass it reach the competency review. That sequence explains why an unconverted transcript or an unsigned form ends an application before anyone forms a view of the candidate.

What the competency review weighs

Assessment is by document screening and an oral interview, across six declared factors:

• Academic performance
• Language proficiency — Korean and English, scored separately
• Academic activities
• Contributions to society and international exchange
• Potential for future development
• The completeness and authenticity of submitted documents

Quantitative additional points

These are the only fixed, arithmetic advantages in the process. Everything else is judgement.

Evaluation preference

Considered within the overall competency assessment rather than added as points:

• Overseas Koreans
• Applicants from low-income families or underprivileged backgrounds
• Applicants to science and engineering departments
• Associate applicants who have won a national-level technical skills competition
• R-GKS applicants in majors linked to regional priority fields and specialised industries under the ANCHOR system

5.2The TOPIK question, in full

Language certificates are optional. That single word leads a great many applicants to skip them, and it is the most expensive misreading in the whole application. Korean and English are scored separately, and submitting no certificate at all scores 50% of the language component — not zero, but half, against candidates scoring 80 or 90.

Two TOEFL iBT scoring systems are in play this cycle, split at 21 January 2026; results from the older system stay usable for two years from the sitting date and are mapped across using the ETS conversion table. Observe also that the 100% band is reachable only through TOPIK. No English qualification, at any score, reaches it.

Which TOPIK certificates are valid for the 2027 cycle

Check the current examination numbering and schedule at topik.go.kr before assuming a sitting will count. Registration windows close well ahead of test dates, and IBT and PBT run on different calendars in different regions.

What TOPIK does across the whole process

No other single element of this application works in as many places at once. A TOPIK certificate operates at four distinct points:

1. It earns quantitative points. Level 3 adds 3% of the total score, Level 4 adds 4%, Level 5 or above adds 5% — independent of the language component itself.
2. It carries the Korean half of the language score. Level 3 scores 80% where no certificate scores 50%.
3. It removes a year, at Level 5 or 6. Holders are exempted from the language programme and enter their degree directly in March 2027, completing the whole scholarship a year sooner with no loss of per-year benefits.
4. It settles whether you can enter your degree at all. Every scholar must reach Level 3 within the language year to progress. Some departments require Level 4. A scholar who fails to reach the required level may not enter their degree programme.

5.3The oral interview

The competency review is defined in the guidelines as document screening and an oral interview. Beyond that definition the guidelines say nothing: who conducts the interview, when it falls, in what language and by what method are all left to the institution running your first round. In practice that means watching your embassy’s or university’s own notices and your email between submission and the first-round result, and being ready rather than waiting to be told.

Prepare these

• Your own application, in detail. Everything in Forms 2 and 3 is fair ground. If you named a laboratory or a professor, expect to be asked why.
• Three separate answers to why Korea, why this university and why this department. They are not the same question.
• Why you rather than the other candidates. Uncomfortable, and the real question behind most of the others.
• Your Korean language plan, including an honest statement of your current level and what you have already done about it.
• What you intend to do after graduating, and what you will contribute to relations between Korea and your country.
• Anything unusual in your record — a gap year, a dip in results, a change of stream. One calm sentence, no apology.
• A short self-introduction in Korean (자기소개). Delivered confidently at beginner level, it demonstrates commitment more convincingly than any assertion of interest. Do not perform fluency you do not have.
• Knowledge of Korea beyond popular culture — its economy, its universities, its standing in your field, its current cooperation with your country.

5.4Where applications fail

5.5After selection

The language year

• Every scholar takes a one-year Korean language programme before the degree, whatever language the degree is taught in.
• The language year is now held at your degree institution itself. Placement at a separate language centre elsewhere in the country no longer happens.
• TOPIK Level 3 must be reached within that year to progress to the degree programme.
• Where a department requires Level 4 and the scholar finishes at Level 3, entry to the degree may not be possible — which is why the department’s language requirement belongs in your selection decision rather than in your surprises.

Exemption and early entry

Scholars initially exempted from the language programme on TOPIK Level 5 or 6 receive the Korean Proficiency Grant automatically, so the exemption costs nothing in benefits.

Practical matters

• Several legalised graduation certificates before departure — for the Standard Admission Letter, the visa, and Korean immigration.
• Visa: the January 2027 invitation letter and admission documents are what you take to the Korean embassy. Scholars are expected to familiarise themselves with Korean immigration and residency law and with their university’s academic regulations — hikorea.go.kr and immigration.go.kr are the official references.
• Already in Korea on a D-2 or D-4 visa? Contact the immigration office immediately after the final announcement to establish the procedure and documents for a new visa. Entry airfare will not be provided.
• Accommodation comes out of the allowance. Most scholars begin in a university dormitory; dormitory applications carry their own deadlines, so ask the international office early.
• Withdrawal within three months of enrolling requires full repayment. Renunciation after final selection is irreversible and permanently bars future GKS applications; repeated renunciations from one country can cost that country its quota.

6.1Questions applicants ask

My country is not on the 74-country list. Can I apply at all?

Not to the embassy track. Quotas are set by bilateral agreement, and only citizens of listed partner countries may apply. Two routes remain open: the UIC programme accepts applicants from every country except Korea, applying directly to one of the thirteen participating universities; and your country may appear on the GKS graduate programme list, which is announced separately early in the year.

I am currently enrolled in a bachelor’s degree in my own country. Am I disqualified?

No. What disqualifies is possession of a bachelor’s degree, not enrolment in one. Your application would rest on your secondary school record, and you would enter a Korean university at first year. The separate rule about students in their final year applies only where the institution is in Korea.

My school year ends in February or March 2027. Can I still apply?

No. You must have graduated already, or be expected to graduate by 31 December 2026. NIIED’s position on this is explicit and admits no exception. Applicants on a February–March academic calendar apply in the following cycle.

Is TOPIK, TOEFL or IELTS mandatory?

None is mandatory for the application itself. But submitting no certificate scores only 50% of the language component, and individual universities and departments set their own minimum language requirements — listed in the University Information file, not in the main guidelines. Practically speaking, an applicant with no language evidence is competing at a self-imposed disadvantage.

My grades are below 80%. Is that the end of it?

Not necessarily. Ranking in the top 20% of your class satisfies the requirement independently of your percentage. Obtain an official letter or certificate from your institution confirming the rank and submit it with your transcript.

My grading system is not one of the accepted scales. What do I submit?

Two additional documents: an official explanation of your grading system from your institution or education ministry, and a converted grade authenticated by your own institution — original, with its seal. Neither needs an apostille. A conversion produced by scholaro.com, wes.org or a similar service counts only once your school confirms it.

Apostille or consular confirmation — which applies to me?

If your country belongs to the Hague Apostille Convention, an apostille is the only option for most documents. If it does not, obtain consular confirmation from the Korean embassy or consulate. There is one useful exception: even in Convention countries, the high school graduation certificate and academic transcript may be submitted with consular confirmation instead.

Can I apply to both tracks to improve my chances?

Not simultaneously — doing so has the application disregarded, and the scholarship cancelled if it surfaces later. The permitted sequence is: fail the embassy first round, then apply to the University Track. Applicants who pass the embassy first round, including backup candidates, may not apply to the University Track.

Can I apply to two departments at the same university?

No. You may name the same department at all three universities, but not multiple departments within one university. University Track applicants are limited to a single university and a single department outright.

Is medicine available through GKS-U?

You may apply only to departments listed in the University Information file for your track. Medicine and dentistry rarely appear there, so check the file for your target institution rather than assuming availability. Adjacent fields do appear — Medicinal Biotechnology at Dong-A University and Medical Information Technology at Inje University are both open under UIC.

I currently live in a country other than my own. Does that affect anything?

You may apply while residing in a third country. Two consequences follow: successful candidates who enter Korea from a third country receive neither entry airfare nor visa support, and obtaining legalisation and certified translations from abroad takes considerably more time and effort. Where proof of citizenship must be produced from a third country, it may be accepted with consular confirmation from your own country’s diplomatic mission there.

Can I change university or major later?

No. The guidelines close this off completely: transfer between universities is not permitted under any circumstances, and the field of study is locked from the moment of final selection. This applies throughout the language year and the degree alike.

What is the difference between GKS and KGSP?

They are the same programme. The Korean Government Scholarship Program was rebranded as the Global Korea Scholarship in 2010; older material and much informal usage still says KGSP.

How will I be told the results?

It depends on the round. The first round reaches you directly from the embassy or university, and so does the embassy track’s third round, from each institution that accepted you. The two NIIED decisions — round two and the final list — are published rather than sent, on the GKS notice board and your My Page. Watching for them is on you.

Are there hidden costs?

Tuition, the language programme fee, airfare and the monthly allowance are all covered, and nothing is repaid on completion. Accommodation, food and daily living come out of the allowance. Never covered: domestic travel within your own country, travel insurance for the journey, and entry airfare for anyone already in Korea or flying from a third country.

6.2Contacts and official sources

Programme administrator

Contact details for the Korean embassy in each of the 74 partner countries are listed in Appendix B of the guidelines, and for all 70 embassy-track universities in Appendix C. Both are in the download folder above. Note that NIIED does not accept applications submitted directly by applicants — only through an embassy or university recommendation.

University track — where to apply directly

Embassy-track applicants apply online and do not contact universities at the application stage.

Official websites

Sources: 2027 Global Korea Scholarship Application Guidelines for Undergraduate Degrees, English and Korean editions (NIIED, September 2026), including Appendix A (CGPA conversion), Appendix B (Korean embassies), Appendices C and D (university contacts) and Appendix E (FAQ) · 2027 University Information files for the Embassy Track (Type A, Type B) and the University Track · the GKS notice board at studyinkorea.go.kr.