Tuition Fees and Scholarships in South Korea
Before applying to South Korean universities, begin with learning about tuition fees and scholarships in South Korea. South Korean universities charge the same tuition fee to international and domestic students. That’s why studying in South Korea is reasonable compared to other developed countries such as the US, UK, and Australia.
Since the tuition fee is affordable, studying in South Korea is affordable to Nepalese students too. However, the tuition fees of private universities are more expensive than public universities.
Programs like Medicine, Nursing, Engineering, etc are expensive compared to humanities programs. The annual tuition fees for undergraduates range from 4,000 to 20,000 USD, depending upon the university and the program.
If you are on scholarship, then the scholarship covers most of your expenses, otherwise, you are liable for the expenses solely. Language programs are more affordable. They will cost around 1,300 to 1,600 USD per 10 week semester.
Getting a scholarship in South Korea is tough and highly competitive. Korea offers a wide range of scholarships for international students. Most of the scholarships are offered by individual universities which range from 30% to 100% fee waiver and sometimes with a waiver of dormitory fees.
Some universities also pay for living expenses, mostly for master's and research students. For international students, the Korean government has introduced a Mega scholarship program named Global Korea Scholarship (GKS). GKS includes all the expenses from tuition fees, and living expenses to printing costs. There are corporate scholarships like Posco Asia Fellowship and Samsung Global Scholarship Program available for international students.
Seoul National University offers the following scholarship programs for undergraduate applicants. Applicants are eligible to apply for the programs before or during the admission application process.
Korean Government Scholarship Program (KGSP)
Eligibility:
International applicants can apply for 4-year undergraduate programs. You cannot apply for courses such as medicine, veterinary medicine, pharmacy, and architecture that takes more than 4 years of time
Number of Recipients: Approximately 20 to 40 every year
Subsidies:
- Tuition fee: exemption for 8 semesters
- Living expenses: 900,000 KRW per month
- Airfare: one economy round trip
- Korean language training fee: one year
Korean language training is compulsory. If the student is unable to achieve TOPIK grade 3 within a year, he won’t be eligible to enter into the degree program.
- Others: medical insurance, settlement, and returning expenses
Application Period: September
Selection Procedure:
- Applicants need to submit their applications to the Korean embassy in their countries.
- The embassy will make the first selection.
- Later, the National Institute for International Education will make the final selection.
MSc Tropical Forestry (International Commonwealth Scholarship)
The School of Natural Sciences offers a postgraduate distance-learning program in Tropical Forestry accessible to international students from around the world. International students who have been awarded a scholarship by the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission (CSC) are eligible for this scholarship.
The grant is worth £ 18,000 which covers tuition fees, and it allows you to participate in a two-week study abroad program in July / August 2021. Current scholarships are only available to applicants who can start the program in September 2019.
This part-time master's degree in tropical forest lasts for three years. The Education Module covers the first two years and the third year focuses on the final project of the dissertation.
Korea University Scholarship
Korea University provides two types of Scholarships for international students. All new applicants are eligible to apply for these scholarships. They are:
1. Global Leader Scholarship A
Grant: Full tuition fee (including admission fee) for 2 semesters
Requirement: GPA of 3.5 or higher
2. Global Leader Scholarship B
Grant: 50% of the tuition fee (including admission fee) for 2 semesters
Requirement: GPA of 3.0 or higher