Korea Foundation Support for Korean Studies Students based Overseas

Korea Foundation or (한국국제교류재단) fellowship is awarded to researchers and graduate students studying Korean Studies subjects and other persons professionally engaged in Korea-related activities who wish to have an opportunity to take a language immersion program and learn Korean in a systematic manner at a university in Korea.

Korea Foundation also has fellowships for Graduate, Post Graduate and  Field Research grants. 

Eligible Applicants

Persons who are engaged in Korea-related research within the context of humanities or social science studies or persons who are professionally involved in Korea-related activities and who also correspond to one of the following profiles:

• Undergraduates: Undergraduate students in colleges located in Eastern Europe, the Middle East or Southeast Asia who are studying the Korean Language as a major or minor;
• MA or PhD candidates: Graduate students pursuing a Korea-related degree as a major or minor;
• University faculties and researchers: Professors, lecturers and researchers who are teaching Korea-related courses or Korean language courses, or who are conducting Korea-related research at a university or research institution; or
• Professionals: Professionals engaged in Korea-related activities in the fields of arts and culture.

Application deadline is July 31st and November of each year!
For details click HERE.

Study in Korea (Part-3 / Korean Language Programs)

K-Pop or K-culture are the popular words one gets to see while searching for media, music, films, dramas and culture - related to Korea. With the Korean wave these are considered as the drivers of globalizing Korea. A very interesting part is the fact that in many countries, where Korean wave created tsunamis, people had no clue about the language whose programs or music they loved and could relate to..most of the time dramas were subtitled or dubbed. Countries like Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Kenya, Azerbaijan, Denmark, France, Germany, Thailand, Malaysia to Canada and the US - there is a growing interest in Korean media and hence, to know Korea which further developed into a desire to learn Korean language called "Hangul".

Many universities are offering Korean language programs (KLP)  for foreigners. Mainly two types of program are popular: KLPs focusing on conversation and the ones' used for academic reasons. Sogang university is popular with conversational programs and Yonsei university in academics. Many universities have a melange of two and some have interestingly further divided their programs for student coming from specific regions e.g. classes for Japanese and Chinese students (due to similarities with Korean, Hanja or classical Chinese characters) are separate from those coming from the rest of the world, however, the choice to choose which program to join is entirely left to the applicant.

Some of the popular KLPs in Seoul are at the following universities:

1. Yonsei
2. Sogang
3. Seoul National University
4. Kyunghee University
5. Ehwa Women's University
6. Sookmyung Women's University

Basically, there is no scholarship to learn Korean unless you are in a KLP of your home country and only then one is eligible to apply. MoU's between governments also bring language scholarships holders to Korea. NGOs and companies also send their candidates to study Korean language. In case you are a Korean Studies major or are planning to join one...at some stage you may apply for such a scholarship in Korea. Once you are in Korea - there is no scholarship to study Korean language at all...but do not get disheartened, while in Korea - you will have countless opportunities to learn and practice Korean language. Seoul Global Center and Korea foundation offers free classes of Korean language to the foreign residents (both children and adults) of Korea on regular basis in different levels after taking a placement test. Many universities, at times, offer classes for free for Korean language and one of them was Seoul City University. Social Network groups and NGOs also offer Korean language classes....hence, there are countless opportunities to learn Korean.

Personally, I have noticed that some of my friends who studied Korean at universities in cities outside Gyeonggi and Seoul area - learn Korean fast in lesser time because they could NOT find many people who would speak with them in English which is often the case in Seoul. If you try Korean outside the class - most natives reply back in English than in Hangul (Korean)...which could be very frustrating at times.

I studied Korean at Kyunghee and Sogang universities and my advice is once you start to learn Korean...don't quit in the middle but instead, try to finish at least 4 levels in a stretch. Furthermore, unless somebody has taken TOPIK (Test of Proficiency in Korean) - it hard to understand what level are you actually in. An intermediate level of one university with that of the other does NOT mean the same thing hence, when you learn Korean language my advice is : don't forget to take TOPIK step by step: that will bring you to the general standard of Korean language proficiency that the Ministry of Education of Korea requires...hope this will help!!!

TIPS

If I had an option of  "undo" in real life then I would have chosen this:

1- Study Korean in cities other than Seoul and Gyeonggi province.

2- I had taken TOPIK exam after passing each level.

3- I would have told people that : 영어 못해요! (I don't know English).

4- I had hanged out with Koreans rather than foreigners.

Last but not the least, knowing Korean language has surely made life much richer in many ways so try to stay positive ;-) .

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...