NIIED has announced the application guidelines of the 2024 Korean Government Scholarship Program for Graduate Degree programs. On this page, we are trying to give all the important details about GKS graduate scholarships for Indian applicants.

For the year 2024, there are 2200 seats for GKS graduate scholarship for international students from all over the world who want to pursue Master’s or PhD degree in Korea.

What is GKS Scholarship?

GKS stands for Global Korea Scholarship. It's a prestigious scholarship given by Korean government to meritorious students from all over the world. The scholarship is managed by NIIED (National Institute for International Education), Govt. of Republic of Korea. 

GKS Scholarship is announced twice a year - once in January-February for graduate degrees (Masters and PhD) and once in September-October for undergraduate degree programs (Bachelor's degree).

On this page, we are giving you information about the GKS Graduate scholarship. CHECK THE GKS UNDERGRADUATE SCHOLARSHIP DETAILS HERE.

What are the benefits of GKS Scholarship?

GKS is a fully funded scholarship and basically it covers all the costs of studying in Korea including your university tuition, hostel and living expenses, insurance, flight tickets, health insurance etc. 

■ Scholarship Benefits

※ Study Incentive : All-inclusive subsidy of Settlement Allowance, Monthly Allowance, Research Allowance, Korean Proficiency Grants, TOPIK Application Fee, Degree Completion Grants, Medical Insurance, and Publication Printing Fee

※ GKS Scholars who will be initially exempted the Korean language program with TOPIK level 5 or 6 will be given Korean Proficiency Grants automatically. (except for GKS scholars in Global Network program, Research program and Japanese applicants)

How to apply for GKS Scholarship?

There are two ways to apply for the GKS scholarships, they are called application tracks - 1. Embassy Track and 2. University Track.

Under the embassy track you submit your applications to the Korean embassy in India (or to MHRD) and for the universitythe universitythe university track, you send your applications directly to the Korean university.

If you are applying through the university track, go to the website of the university and check their notice section. They will have a notification regarding GKS scholarship in which they will specify the process, application deadline,deadline,deadline, etc. Note that the process and dates can be different for every university. They will also mention the name of an in-charge who you can contact if you have any queries. For university track, you need to send just one original set of application form and all documents.

If you want to apply through the embassy track, you need to send your application directly to Korean embassy in India. The application deadline for GKS graduate scholarship 2024 (will be updated soon). For embassy track, you need to send one original set of application form and all documents and 3 photocopy sets.

Send your GKS Graduate Applications for embassy track to this address:

Mr. Jeon Chanho

Second Secretary

Political Affairs Department

Embassy of the Republic of Korea

9, Chandragupta Marg,

Chanakyapuri Extension,

New Delhi-110021

Phone: 011-4200-7000

The selection process for GKS embassy and university tracks are as below:

Another important difference between embassy and university tracks of GKS scholarship is that under embassy track you can choose 3 universities in your order of preference but under university track you can apply to only one university.

But under embassy track if you are not shortlisted by embassy and NIIED your application never reached any Korean university. Under university track, you can be sure that your application will be seen by at least one university.

So both the tracks have their plus and minus points. It's your choice to choose one. Though there is one thing I would like to point out.

Sometimes the 1st round short-listing for the embassy track is over soon and the results are announced while the dates for university track applications are still open. In that you can apply for university track as well if you can't make it through the first round of the university track. 

How many seats are there for Indian students for GKS Scholarship?

The number of seats in GKS scholarship varies every year.

In year 2024, for India, there are 22 scholarship seats under the embassy track and 25 seats under university track.

What's the Period of GKS Graduate Scholarship?

○ Master’s Degree Program: 3 years

- 1 year of Korean language training + 2 years of degree program

○ Doctoral Degree Program: 4 years

- 1 year of Korean language training + 3 years of degree program

○ Research Program: 6 months or 1 year

What's the Eligibility Criteria for GKS Scholarship?

○ Nationality

- All applicants must hold citizenship of NIIED designated countries that are invited to take part in the GKS program.

- Applicants’ parents (or legal guardians) must hold citizenship from another country other than Korea. If applicants or their parent hold dual citizenship (one who has both Korean citizenship and citizenship of another country), such applicant is NOT eligible to apply.

-Applicants and their parents who had previously held Korean citizenship must submit documentation issued by the Korean government that proves their renunciation of Korean citizenship.

-If an applicant’s citizenship is changed during the selection process, he or she will be excluded from the evaluation. (Not applicable to R&D program)

- For Overseas Korean applicants (Embassy Track) holding Japanese citizenship, if their parents hold „Permanent Residency Permit‟ within Japan while holding Korean citizenship, they are exceptionally eligible to apply.

-Applicants from all countries around the world can apply to R&D program.

○ Degree Requirements

- Master’s Program Applicant: Must hold a Bachelor's degree or a level of education equivalent to or higher than a Bachelor's degree.

- Doctoral Program Applicant: Must hold a Master's degree or a level of education equivalent to or higher than a Master's degree.

- Research Program Applicant: Must have received an invitation from one of the partner universities and must meet the criteria below;

• Postdoctoral Research Program: Must hold a Doctoral degree (by February 28, 2023)
• Professor Exchange Program: Must hold a Master's degree AND must be currently teaching at a university as a professor
• Program for Education, Science, Culture, International Cooperation Professionals: Must hold a Master's degree AND must be a professional in a field of Education, Science, Culture, or International Cooperation (E.S.C.I.)

※Applicants who are expected to graduate by July 31st , 2024 can also apply for the program with a certificate of expected graduation. Such applicants must submit their official graduation certificate (or diploma) and final academic transcript to GKS Center, NIIED by July 31st , 2024. Failure to do so will result in the cancellation of your acceptance

○ Grades

- Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) of the entire curriculum from the previous degree program * must meet one of the conditions below;

*For example, previous degree for a doctoral degree program applicant is a master’s degree program

• CGPA must be above 2.64/4.0, 2.80/4.3, 2.91/4.5 or 3.23/5.0
• Score percentile should be 80% or above on a 100-point scale or be ranked within the top 20% within one's class

*Applicants must submit an academic transcript with CGPA or ranking information.

* If a transcript does not provide CGPA in any one of the accepted GPA scales (4.0, 4.3, 4.5, 5.0 or 100 point scale), then the applicant must submit a transcript converted into one of the above GPA scales as a supplementary document.

○ Age

- Must be under 40 years of age (born after September 1, 1984)

- Academic professors in one of the Official Development Assistance (ODA) recipients* who are under 45 years of age (born after September 1, 1979) are eligible to apply.

* DAC List of ODA Recipients on 2024 and 2025 flows (www.oecd.org)

○ Health

- All applicants must be in good health, both mentally and physically, to study in Korea for the full duration of the program.

What Documents do I need to submit for GKS Scholarship?

Contact Information

○ Embassy of the Republic of Korea in India

Email: [email protected]

Phone no. : 91-11-4200-7000

Fax :  91-11-2688-4840

○ Korean Universities for 2024 GKS Graduate Degrees: CLICK HERE !

○ Other useful websites

What would be your ONE BEST ADVICE to GKS aspirants?

Please go to all the links below, download all the documents and read them. It may take a few hours or even a few days but PLEASE DO IT.

Whatever doubts you have should be cleared after reading these documents properly.

 Do not ask questions to random experts on internet. If you have any query, contact the embassy, Korean university or NIIED.

Wish you all the best.

Check the guidelines carefully for further information such as the eligibility requirements, required documents and directions to submit the application.

The deadline will be decided by each office that accepts the application documents, i.e. the Korean Embassies or selected universities. Please make sure to check their separate announcement for the deadlines.

Thank you and good luck!

To understand how to read and write the Korean alphabet and join our online certificate course in order to fulfill your dream to work in Korea or appear for the TOPIK exam.

Please check these pages :

1. Learn Korean Script Hangeul in 1 Hour
2. Join our Level 1 online certificate course
3. TOPIK - The complete guide

If you are going to appear for the TOPIK test or just need a boost in Korean language we would strongly advise you to join our online certificate course. One reason is that this course is developed and taught by people who are not only top level experts in Korean language but also are passionate about teaching Korean and helping learners like you achieve their dreams.

If you're new to Korean language we would advise you to buy our KOREAN LANGUAGE FOR INDIAN LEARNERS book available on Amazon and Flipkart. Also available on Kindle.

Thank you.

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Like the word suggests. The student should write his/her experiences, achievements, values. The reasons to study abroad and apply for the scholarship might not be so unique, thus, the way it is written should be impactful.

The following key question can be formed and written in a way that would sound promising and you can include the following questions like :

Things should be mentioned in detail. Analysis on all those parts can further be broken down into small segments for easy evaluation and understanding. 

• The first part can be very idealistic.
• Second part should be practical.
• Third part can include all the summary of what you have mentioned above.

STATEMENT OF PURPOSE

A real Statement of Purpose shows that you have thought through why you are doing the course, rather than exclaiming a wish to be one day employed. Even if you have fully considered your reasons for undertaking further study, it is not uncommon to feel a certain self-consciousness about writing about them.

Statement of purpose definitely contains your goal of study. Statement of purpose definitely contains your goal of study.

1. The first part could be started with a quote. That's done by most of the people. Followed by explaining what you'll do in " that " specific University !! 

The answer shouldn't be like " You wish to study with that professor." Those types of answers are always along the line. But  your answer should be more promising like, how you will be generating more knowledge together. With the help of such a good facility how will you be able to contribute and take advantage of such opportunities given to you.

You can explain how being able to get such knowledge you can help others and expand your field of study and contribute much more. 

2. The second part of it can include the research interest. How is it going to help you in your field of interest?

Since Korea is among the top 5 OECD countries that spend most on research & development studies constituting 4.46 percent of South Korea's GDP. Hence a lot of the students around the globe are interested to study in Korea because of the facilities/benefits provided which includes

• Monthly allowance
• Two way air fare
• Monthly allowance which will be enough for you to survive in Korea.

See Also : Things to prepare for GKS Scholarship 2021

With all these facilities they want you to focus solely on the research and provide the best result afterwards. Your focus should be to fully invest your time in the research and make use of the guidance by being under the professor of your department. 

3. The third part could be the research topic. After the research topic you need to explain about the research topic
4. You can include why you have the necessary aptitude to succeed in GKS ?

Things that will ultimately make you stand out from the rest of the students after you have completed your graduation. You have to convince and prove your worth and give that commitment to the professors in writing what you will ultimately be providing them in the end. 

 To stand out from the rest of the students if you have already done some studies in your field or have published some papers already or doing some work in some specific areas. Chances are that your worth could be easily measured looking at those results. 

In the future plan. You can break it down into two parts:- 

• Long term goals and short term goals. 

In long term goals you can write keeping in mind about the next five years and short term could be what you can achieve in the coming few months maybe.

For the short term you can mention how KGSP will help you in achieving those dreams. It shouldn't include what you want to do after kgsp BUT how can KGSP help you to achieve those goals of yours !!

There's a difference between the two and mentioning the latter can increase your chance immensely !! You can also list down the goals down below which should be closely linked to your graduate studies.

For the long term goals you can also mention in detail about how long you'll be staying in Korea and what will be your field of study after graduation and then probably going back to your country, you will continue working in the field of yours. 

Eventually you have to mention how the KGSP is going to help you to achieve those long-term goals of yours.

You can easily write about your long term goals by adjusting what you have already mentioned in the short term goals and try to add two or three points in it to make it sound appropriate . It shouldn't be lengthy. Just explaining two or three points would be enough.

It is actually mentioned that you have to score TOPIK 3 and above to give you an extra 10 points while selection. BUT as long as you have something that makes you stand out from the rest of the students that would be enough for you to get into any university. For example fluency in Korean, research skill or entrepreneur skills.

Tips for the Interview !!

Mainly the interview is very nerve wracking and people are very nervous before giving the interview keeping in mind that it's for the research and professors may ask you questions regarding your field of knowledge and you should be thoroughly prepared for it.

• Questions linked to your major.
• Questions related to the documents that you have provided.
• Question can also be a close link to why you have chosen that particular University auditor field of study and why Korea was your destination for studies.

Confidence is the key and how you articulate your thinking well enough for the professors and teachers to pick you from the crowd.

The key point would be to emphasize on the things that you are actually good at and make it your key point.

The best suggestion I will give you is to prepare something in Korean even if you don't speak it properly.

Having some knowledge of Korean will always give you that " extra edge" even if you are preparing to go to Korea in general.  Not to mention it is highly appreciated if you're doing any kind of studies in Korea.

They might ask you to introduce yourself in Korean so prepare small sentences that you would be confident in.

Since you are applying to learn and improve your abilities, it is important to make that goal clear in the statement of purpose.

Those were the few points that would be helpful in writing your personal statement and statement of purpose. Hope you found this article helpful. Please write your doubts below if you have any.

Thank you !!