Study in Korea (Part-2)

(Pic: Seoul National University Entrance)

In the previous post about 'Study in Korea-Part 1', I briefly talked about how the number of foreign students increased over the past 10 years or so, the types of visas and the major countries from where they have come from. This post will highlight how to get admission in universities in Korea and what majors these students enroll in? What are the important websites and scholarships in Korea for higher education?

If you are planning to come to Korea to study then you must know these:

• All foreign students in Korea, once accepted, get full or partial waiver of their tution fee depending on their major, the school that they choose and most important of all their grades(cumulative GPA).
• One must know that the scholarships for Korean language are available through a memorandum of understanding  (MOU) between respective countries and Korea. On individual basis there is no language scholarship available per se. If you are in a Korean Studies major - anywhere in the world - you can get a schoralship for language study through exchange between your home university and a Korean university...you better get info. on this at your parent university.
• NIIED and Korea Foundation are the two major organizations dealing with scholarships in graduate and post graduate studies in Korea. There are a few other organizations as well.
• Date of application for scholarships are either once or twice a year which is always specified. The reason is that admission are offered twice a year in Spring and Fall semesters.
• There are special scholarships for people working for the government, NGOs as well as education and research institues.
• For the list of universities in Korea visit the NIIED website and you will get a lot of information.
• For Masters and Ph.D, some universities offer programs in English entirely such as GSIS of Seoul National university, Yonsei university, Korea university, Sogang university, Kyunghee university etc.
• For undergraduate program, there are only a few universities that offer classes in English and the first such program that became an instant success was the Underwood Collge of Yonsei university established some 4 years ago. The trend is now getting popular.
• The most popular majors in humanities and social sciences among foreign students in Korea are business, finance, economics, politics, environment, peace studies, Korean studies and multicultural studies.
• The most popular destination of foreign students for natural sciences, computers, engineering and technology related studies- one must not forget KAIST located in Daejon - a little over an hour by bus or train from Seoul and about 50 minutes by bullet train (KTX).
• There are many other universities which are popular with a specific major...as I said before, go through NIIED or KF websites in detail.
• For more information contact the webmasters or the admission offices of NIIED, KF or the respective universities and you will surely get a reply.
• Email is the best and the most popular way of communication in Korea hence, email the concerend schools and departments without hesitation. You will be surprised that they are very helpful and fast in answering to your queries.

My next post ( Part -3) will deal with Korean Language Education in Korea...