How to get scholarship to do Masters or PhD in Korea. 

 January 14, 2021

By  Smriti Ekka

Korea provides lot of opportunities for doing masters. They call it graduate studies. One of the major scholarships is KGSP.  They have changed the name of GKS. If you want to do MBA or Masters in international relations, international trade, Korean language, literature , engineering etc. Most of the big universities are a part of that scholarship. That scholarship is a very prestigious one.

Incentives they provide :

  • They provide a two way ticket fare. For coming to Korea and after completing your studies they will give the fare for going back as well. The whole tuition fee is paid.
  • In Korea if you want to do Masters in any field the minimum course fees will be approximately 2-3 lakhs per semester minimum. 4 years for 2 semesters, it will be like above 10 lakhs rupees. They will give that fee directly to the universities and not to you.
  • They will also give you the monthly allowance for living expenses that will be approximately Rs 50-60 thousand.
  • If you can pass TOPIK level 5 during your stay period then they will give you another Rs 60,000 more.
  • They will also cover a one year language training. If you already have a TOPIK level 5 then you can directly enroll for the masters level or PhD program without the Korean language training program. 99% of the people don’t have TOPIK level 5 before coming to Korea so they will give you one year language training and they will pay the complete fees of the training.

Is a very good program. I have actually attended the training myself. After one year you have to pass TOPIK level 3 that is the minimum requirement after passing TOPIK level 3 you will enroll in the Masters program in whatever department you want to.

I highly recommend this . One way is to apply through the embassy, the human resource ministry put the notification about the scholarship in India. Interview is taken in the ministry of HRD. They will shortlist the candidates and then will send the application to the universities. You can choose from the three universities according to your priority.

The other option is you can directly apply to the university. If you are doing some course that you have contact with the professor who is in the research in your area of interest. You can contact them directly and you can ask him what it takes to apply for that department. They will do the selection and will forward your name to the selection agency that is the Korean government , NIIED ( National Institute for International Education ) that agency and then it’s done.

So there are two ways to apply for it :

  • If you can afford self study like the cost of studying here for one year. You can enroll in a University and can get a certain percentage of marks like every University has its own rules If you can get 80% or above they will waive your 50% to 70% of the fees or maybe hundred percent of the course fees.

For living expenses if you are really working hard you are not like someone who has never done anything and you can always do part time jobs. You can work in offices or cafes for a few hours. It’s not a real thing for most of the Korean students to manage their finances to work part time jobs. People always support you if you struggle with finance. You can always talk to your professor and they can provide you with a part time job for a department or some people who can help you with finances.

Thinking about joining only after 100% reduction of money will be going to reduce the chances. Try to look for the best and this is the time you can do some adventure even if you want to get some money you have to struggle. It’ll be worth your experience I think.

KGSP begins  in January and February so keep checking our website and this YouTube channel will be posting about it in detail.

Check the YouTube channel for more information.

Thank you. All the best.

Smriti Ekka


Smriti Ekka graduated in Commerce and Library science, and currently she is working as a content writer at TOPIK Guide website. She is a Korean language and culture enthusiast and has been working across multiple disciplines which broadly addresses narratives of similarities between Korean and Indian culture. Apart from being a content writer at TOPIK Guide she manages Annyeong India website and has had her pieces published in Learn Korean in India website as well. In her other life, she is a singer, rising entrepreneur, life enthusiast and a learner.

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