Scholarships to study in South Korea for Indian students
South Korea's funding for international students runs mostly through one government scheme: the Global Korea Scholarship, administered by NIIED. It names four benefit categories — tuition, airfare, Korean language training and a monthly allowance — across more than 80 participating universities, with 2,000 graduate places and 286 undergraduate places each cycle.
At a glance
| Awards we list in this group | 2 |
|---|
The government names the benefits and not the amounts
This is the single most important thing to know before you budget. The official scholarship page lists what GKS covers and publishes no figure for any of it — no monthly stipend, no airfare value, no tuition cap.
- Tuition, paid to the university for the length of your degree.
- Airfare, named as a benefit for award holders.
- Korean language training, one year before your degree on the tracks that include it.
- A monthly allowance for the duration of the award.
Any site quoting you an exact monthly figure for GKS is quoting something other than the official source. The amounts appear in each cycle's own notice, which is where we check them with you.
Type A and Type B decide where you can apply
The government keeps two lists of participating universities, and an Embassy Track applicant names up to three universities of which at least one must be Type B. That one rule shapes most shortlists, and it is the part applicants most often get wrong.
- Type A at graduate level is 35 institutions, including Seoul National, Yonsei, Korea University, KAIST, POSTECH, UNIST, GIST and Sungkyunkwan.
- Type B at graduate level is 41 institutions, including Pusan National, Kyungpook National, Chonnam National and Jeonbuk National.
- The lists are not the same for undergraduate and graduate — KAIST is Type A for a master's and appears on neither undergraduate list.
Two routes, and you pick one
- Embassy Track — apply through the Korean embassy in your country of citizenship. 800 of the 2,000 graduate places and 156 of the 286 undergraduate places.
- University Track — apply directly to a participating university. The rest of both quotas, including the R&D and Global Network specialisations at graduate level.
Global Network is worth knowing about separately: 80 master's places taught mainly in English, without the Korean language training year.
When to apply
The government publishes the month of each stage rather than the date, so these are months and the exact days appear in each cycle's notice.
- Graduate — announced February, applications February to March, review April to June, results June.
- Undergraduate — announced September, applications September (embassy) or September to November (university), results December.
Graduate applications open in February, which makes it the next live round.
South Korea scholarships we list
2 awards, each with its own deadline, eligibility and the source we read it from.
South Korea scholarships — FAQs
4 questions
It names four categories — tuition, airfare, Korean language training and a monthly allowance — and the government publishes no amount for any of them on its scholarship page. Treat an exact monthly figure from anywhere else as unverified, and check the live GKS notice before you budget.
The published rule is that you and both of your parents must hold non-Korean citizenship, and India is a designated country for the programme. Places are allocated per country in each cycle's notice, so the quota for India is something to check in the current notice rather than assume.
They are the government's own two lists of participating universities. An Embassy Track applicant may name up to three and at least one must be Type B. The lists differ between the undergraduate and graduate schemes.
GKS includes a year of Korean language training before your degree on the tracks that carry it. The graduate Global Network specialisation is the exception: taught mainly in English, with no language-training year.
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Sources
Checked against these sources on 29 October 2026.