Skip to content
SPScholarPass
← All scholarships

South Korea

Global Korea Scholarship (GKS)

Korea's government scholarship with embassy and university tracks. Includes a fully-funded Korean language year, making it one of the few scholarships where you can start without any test scores. The undergraduate cycle (GKS-U) runs separately each autumn.

No application feeLanguage year includedAge limit

Fact sheet

Funding
Full tuition + ≈ ₩1,000,000/month + flights + 1yr Korean course
Typical deadline window
Feb – Mar for graduate; ~Sep – Oct for the undergraduate cycle
Application fee
None
Language test
None mandatory (TOPIK/IELTS give bonus points)
Where you study
South Korea

What it covers

  • ✓Full tuition
  • ✓Monthly stipend (≈ ₩1,000,000 for graduate students)
  • ✓Round-trip airfare, settlement and research allowances
  • ✓One year of Korean language training before the degree

Can you apply?

  • ▸Under 40 for graduate programmes (under 25 for the undergraduate track)
  • ▸GPA ≥ 80% (competitive applicants are much higher)
  • ▸Apply via the Korean embassy in your country or directly to one university

Insider tips

  1. 01Embassy track lets you pick 3 universities; university track is one shot but often less competition for non-Seoul campuses.
  2. 02Apostille/attestation of documents takes time — the document checklist is long and strict about formats.
  3. 03A TOPIK level 3+ certificate gives concrete bonus points and signals commitment.
Official page ↗Track this applicationDocument checklist

Useful services for this route

How we fund this site

Magoosh IELTS Prep ↗

Self-paced IELTS prep — far cheaper than coaching centres.

Wise ↗

Pay application/deposit fees abroad at the real exchange rate.

StudentUniverse ↗

Student-only fares for your first one-way flight.

Independent services we'd recommend anyway — using them never costs you extra.

Stipend amounts and deadlines shown are recent figures and change between intakes — always confirm on the official page above before planning.