Global Korea Scholarship (GKS) 2027: Eligibility, Benefits & Application Deadline

The Global Korea Scholarship (GKS) — formerly the Korean Government Scholarship Program (KGSP) — is South Korea’s flagship government scholarship for international students. It is administered by the National Institute for International Education (NIIED) under Korea’s Ministry of Education, and published through the official Study in Korea portal at studyinkorea.go.kr. GKS invites outstanding students from designated countries to complete full degree programmes in Korea, with tuition, economy airfare, a year of Korean language training and an all-inclusive monthly allowance provided, in order to deepen international education exchange and mutual friendship between Korea and participating countries. It is one of the few major scholarships that runs two completely separate annual cycles — an undergraduate cycle announced in September and a graduate cycle announced in February — with different age limits, different quotas and different guideline documents. Confusing those two cycles is the single most common planning error GKS applicants make, so this guide keeps them side by side throughout.

For scale, the Study in Korea GKS pages describe a selection quota of approximately 280 undergraduate students, including associate degree students, plus around 1,600 graduate students in general programme descriptions, while the detailed 2027 undergraduate guidelines provide for 286 scholars in total, and the graduate programme pages list a total of 2,000 places across Embassy Track, University Track general and specialisation programmes for the graduate call described there. Quotas are set per cycle, per track and, in the Embassy Track, per country — your country may have only a handful of places, as the examples in this guide show. Treat every quota figure as cycle-specific, and read the guideline PDF for the exact cycle and level you are applying to. If you are comparing GKS with other government scholarships, start from our scholarships directory and the companion GKS graduate scholarship guide, then return here for the eligibility and deadline detail.

GKS 2027 at a Glance

Eligibility Side by Side: Graduate vs Undergraduate in Depth

The nationality and parent-nationality rules — read them literally

All applicants must hold citizenship of an NIIED-designated country invited to take part in GKS, with the single undergraduate exception that the UIC programme is open to all countries around the world. The applicant’s parents, or legal guardians, must hold citizenship of a country other than Korea. If the applicant or a parent holds dual citizenship — Korean citizenship plus another citizenship — that applicant is not eligible. Applicants and parents who previously held Korean citizenship must submit documentation issued by the Korean government proving renunciation of Korean citizenship. If an applicant’s citizenship changes during the selection process, they will be excluded from evaluation, a rule the undergraduate guidelines state is not applicable to UIC applicants. This is not a technicality panels overlook: proof of citizenship for you and both parents, and proof of family relationship, are required documents, checked at document screening before any competency review takes place.

Country quotas show why track choice matters

In the 2027 undergraduate Embassy Track, 156 scholars are selected from 74 countries — 88 in the General programme, 61 in R-GKS and 7 for Overseas Koreans and Adoptees — with the University Track adding 100 UIC scholars and 30 Associate Degree scholars, for 286 in total. The country table in the official guidelines gives, for example, 3 Embassy Track places in total for Bangladesh (2 General, 1 R-GKS), 4 for India (2 General, 2 R-GKS), 4 for Indonesia, 4 for Nigeria and 3 for Pakistan. Those are national competitions for very small numbers, judged first by your embassy, then by NIIED, then — for Embassy Track candidates — by the universities you named. Graduate quotas are larger overall, but they are also divided by country, track and specialisation, including R-GKS, R&D and Global Network programmes in the graduate structure described on Study in Korea. Small quotas do not mean “do not apply”; they mean your study plan, grades documentation and university choices must be right the first time, because there is no second submission in the same cycle.

Fields of Study and Universities

Applicants may apply only to universities and departments listed in the University Information file attached to the GKS Notice on Study in Korea. Evening, short-term, online and distance-learning programmes are not applicable under GKS-U, and the same in-person, full-degree principle runs through the graduate programmes. For the 2027 undergraduate Embassy Track, Type A universities (28 institutions, concentrated in Seoul and including institutions such as Seoul National University, Yonsei University, Korea University, Sungkyunkwan University, Hanyang University and POSTECH) and Type B universities (42 regional institutions) make up the choice list. General and Overseas Koreans Embassy Track applicants choose up to three universities in any order and must include at least one Type B university; R-GKS applicants choose up to two Type B universities only. University Track applicants choose only one university and one department. Graduate applicants follow the same architecture in the graduate University Information file — Type A (35 institutions in the graduate listing on Study in Korea) and Type B (41 institutions) — with Embassy Track applicants again choosing up to three universities including at least one Type B, and University Track applicants applying to a single university and department, including for R-GKS, Research, R&D and Global Network specialisations where offered. After final selection, transfer to a different field of study is not permitted, so the department you name is the degree you will complete. Explore Korean universities in context through our universities directory and rankings resources, but make your actual choices only from the University Information file for your cycle.

Benefits Breakdown — As Officially Published

NIIED publishes GKS benefits as an integrated package, and the most important change to understand in recent guidelines is that the monthly allowance is all-inclusive. In the 2027 undergraduate guidelines, NIIED states that the monthly allowance is an all-inclusive subsidy covering living expenses, accommodation, health insurance, Korean proficiency grants, TOPIK application fees, settlement allowance and degree completion grants. Older articles that list settlement allowance, insurance and completion grants as separate cash amounts on top of an older, smaller stipend are describing an older structure. Use the current structure below.

Three benefit conditions catch scholars out, and all three are stated in the official guidelines. Entry airfare will not be provided to a newly selected scholar who is residing in Korea at the time of the final announcement. Domestic travel within your home country and international travel insurance for the trip to Korea are not covered. And entry airfare or visa support will not be provided to a scholar who enters Korea from a country other than their own country of citizenship. A further condition applies after you start: if a GKS scholar withdraws within the first three months after enrolment at their university, they must return the full scholarship amount received after being selected. Scholars who hold TOPIK 5 or 6 at selection are exempted from the language programme and receive Korean Proficiency Grants automatically under the guidelines; scholars who reach TOPIK 5 or 6 within the first six months of the language programme are exempted from the remaining six months and start their degree in the following semester. Everyone else must complete the language year and reach the required Korean level — at least TOPIK 3 to proceed to the degree in the usual operation of the programme — or the scholarship is at risk.

NIIED also states plainly that scholarship amounts may be subject to change. Present these figures, in your own budgeting, as the 2027 undergraduate figures published in September 2026 and the most recent graduate figures published for the graduate call, and re-check the guideline PDF for the cycle in which you are actually selected. Our study abroad guides and cost tools can help you test whether an all-inclusive allowance of KRW 1.2 million to 1.38 million per month fits the city your university is in — Seoul rents and regional-city rents are very different budgets on the same allowance.

The Two Application Tracks

Embassy Track

In the Embassy Track you apply through the Korean embassy system for your country — for GKS-U 2027, entirely online through the Study in Korea website during the embassy window — and you may name up to three universities (up to two, Type B only, for R-GKS). Selection has three rounds: first round by the embassy, second round by NIIED, and third round by the universities you chose — Embassy Track only. If you pass the third round, you must log in to the Study in Korea system and notify NIIED of your final choice of university by the stated deadline (by 18:00 on 29 December 2026 in the 2027 undergraduate timetable). Candidates who are not accepted by any of the universities they applied to are disqualified, even if they passed the NIIED second round — which is why the guidelines warn applicants to choose universities carefully and not to concentrate all three choices on the most oversubscribed institutions. The Embassy Track suits applicants who want a choice of universities and who are competitive within their country’s small quota.

University Track

In the University Track you apply directly to one GKS university, for one department, using that university’s own submission method and deadline — for GKS-U, at any point in the university’s September–November 2026 window; for GKS-G, in the university’s February–March window in the graduate timetable. There is no third round: the university conducts the first round, NIIED conducts the second round, and final scholars are confirmed on the NIIED result. Undergraduate University Track programmes are UIC — science and engineering departments with university-industry cooperation curricula and settlement/employment support, open to all countries — and the Associate Degree programme. Graduate University Track includes General, R-GKS, Research and International Organization programmes, plus the R&D and Global Network specialisations described on Study in Korea. The University Track suits applicants with a precise departmental fit, a laboratory or supervisor match for graduate research, or a UIC/specialisation programme that exists at only one institution.

The duplicate-application rule

You cannot pursue both tracks at once. Embassy Track applicants who pass the first round, including backup candidates, cannot apply again through the University Track. Embassy Track applicants must apply to only one programme — General, Overseas Koreans and Adoptees, or R-GKS. University Track applicants must apply to only one programme and one university and department. An applicant who applies to more than one track, programme or — in the University Track — university, will be disregarded in evaluation, and the scholarship will be cancelled if the duplication is found afterwards. The one sequence the rules allow is this: an applicant who fails the first round of the Embassy Track may then apply to the University Track, and the undergraduate timetable was explicitly adjusted to allow that. Plan for that sequence in advance by noting University Track deadlines before Embassy Track first-round results are announced.

How to Apply, Step by Step

Step 1 — Download the correct guideline document. On Study in Korea, go to Plan your studies, Scholarships, GKS Notice, and download the guidelines, Forms 1–7 and the University Information file for your level and cycle — GKS-U 2027 for undergraduate, GKS-G for graduate. Do not work from a previous year’s forms.

Step 2 — Confirm eligibility and your track. Check nationality (including both parents), age by the reference date, education completion date, and the grade floor using NIIED’s conversion appendix. Decide Embassy or University Track, and, within it, your programme (General, R-GKS, UIC, Associate, R&D, Global Network, as applicable).

Step 3 — Choose universities and departments from the University Information file only. Check each department’s own admission requirements — language scores, academic prerequisites, portfolio or interview requirements can vary by university and major. For Embassy Track, include the required Type B choice. Use the official university and department names exactly; an incorrect department name can disqualify an application.

Step 4 — Complete Forms 1–7. Application form, personal statement, study plan, recommendation letter, GKS applicant agreement, personal medical assessment, and consent to collect and use personal information. Your English name must match your passport exactly — any discrepancy in family, given or middle names will delay visa processing.

Step 5 — Assemble and legalise the required certificates. See the documents and legalisation section below. Start this step months early: apostille or consular confirmation, plus official grade conversion documents where needed, are the slowest items in the entire process.

Step 6 — Submit through the correct channel, in the correct window. Embassy Track undergraduate: online through Study in Korea, 15 September 2026 at 11:00 to 30 September 2026 at 18:00 KST. Embassy Track graduate: online through Study in Korea in the February window stated in the GKS-G guidelines and your embassy’s notice. University Track: directly to the single university, by its method, before its deadline. All dates and times are Korea Standard Time.

Step 7 — Follow the rounds and respond to the final-choice step. It is each applicant’s responsibility to check notices on Study in Korea; NIIED does not inform applicants individually of each round’s results, and final status can be checked on My Page. Embassy Track scholars who pass the third round must confirm their final university by the deadline in Step 6 of the track description above, or lose the place the rounds won them.

Required Documents and Legalisation (Apostille / Consular Confirmation)

On legalisation, follow the guidelines’ “Document Preparation for Application” section for your cycle, because the detail matters. Required certificates — graduation certificates and transcripts in particular, and citizenship documents in the graduate process as described in the GKS-G materials — must be submitted with an apostille or with consular confirmation, depending on your country and the stage of selection. In the undergraduate online first round, scanned copies are uploaded, and successful first-round candidates must then provide the original, legalised documents; optional documents such as awards do not need to be apostilled or consular-confirmed. Two practical warnings from the guidelines themselves: provisional graduation certificates are treated as expected-graduation evidence, not as final certificates, and final scholars are advised to prepare multiple copies of their apostilled or consular-confirmed graduation certificate before entering Korea, because the same legalised certificate is needed by the degree university for a Standard Admission Letter, by the embassy for visa issuance, and potentially by immigration afterwards. Discovering in Korea that you need another legalised copy from home is an expensive and slow problem that one extra copy at the application stage prevents entirely.

Deadlines and Timeline

For graduate applicants, the honest summary is this: the 2027 graduate guidelines had not superseded the February pattern at the time the undergraduate guidelines were published in September 2026, so this guide labels graduate dates as the verified pattern from the 2026 GKS-G call and the Study in Korea graduate timetable, not as confirmed 2027 dates. When NIIED publishes the 2027 GKS-G notice, its dates replace the pattern dates in the table above. Set a reminder to check the GKS Notice board in January and February rather than relying on any third-party countdown.

Selection: How Applications Are Evaluated, and How to Improve Your Chances

Selection committees first screen eligibility — citizenship, education level and grades are verified, and only applicants who pass document screening proceed to competency review. Competency is evaluated through document screening and, where held, an oral interview, considering academic performance, language proficiency, academic activities, contributions to society and international exchange, potential for future development, and the completeness and authenticity of submitted documents. Language proficiency is scored separately for Korean and English against the tables in the guidelines, by converting official scores into points. Additional points are explicit and worth planning for: direct descendants of Korean War veterans receive 10% of total allocated points in the undergraduate scheme; TOPIK level 3 or above receives 3–5% depending on level; and applicants to science and engineering departments receive 5% in the undergraduate evaluation structure, with evaluation preference also given in comprehensive assessment to overseas Koreans, applicants from low-income or underprivileged backgrounds, science and engineering applicants, and R-GKS applicants whose majors link to regional priority fields and specialised industries.

In practice, the strongest applications combine a grade record comfortably above the floor — not exactly on it — with a study plan that names a real department, real curriculum strengths and a credible reason that department, in Korea, is the right place for the applicant’s goals. A TOPIK certificate at any level is a direct scoring asset and evidence of commitment; starting Korean months before September or February is one of the few improvements entirely within your control. So is document discipline: documents submitted in checklist order, numbered and labelled as the guidelines instruct, on A4 or letter size, with every signature in place — missing documents or signatures can result in exclusion from evaluation before anyone reads your study plan.

Common Mistakes

The disqualifying mistakes are stated in the guidelines and still happen every cycle: applying to both tracks, or to more than one University Track university or department; naming a university or department that is not in the University Information file, or misspelling the official department name; missing the rule that Embassy Track General applicants must include at least one Type B university; and failing to notify your final university choice by the December deadline after passing all three rounds. The eligibility mistakes are just as avoidable: applying for GKS-U while already holding a Bachelor’s degree, missing the expected-graduation final-document date (31 December 2026 for GKS-U), submitting a transcript with no conversion evidence for an unfamiliar grading scale, and overlooking the parent-nationality rule until document screening. The financial mistake is budgeting from outdated benefit lists — separate settlement and insurance payments from older cycles — instead of the current all-inclusive allowance. And the logistical mistake is starting apostille or consular confirmation in the same month as the deadline; in many countries that process alone takes longer than the entire Embassy Track window.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the application deadline for GKS 2027?

For undergraduate GKS-U 2027, the Embassy Track deadline was 30 September 2026 at 18:00 KST (online applications opened 15 September 2026 at 11:00 KST), and University Track deadlines fall in September–November 2026, set by each university. Final results are expected on 7 January 2027. For graduate GKS-G, NIIED announces the call in February — in 2026 the embassy window fell in mid-to-late February — and the 2027 graduate dates must be confirmed in the 2027 GKS-G guidelines on Study in Korea when published.

What GPA do I need for GKS?

You must meet one of three conditions for your previous programme as a whole: 80% or above on a 100-point scale, a ranking in the top 20% of your class, or a CGPA of at least 2.64 on a 4.0 scale, 2.80 on 4.3, 2.91 on 4.5 or 3.23 on 5.0. NIIED publishes a conversion table in the guidelines. If your transcript cannot be converted to any accepted scale, submit an official document from your school or university explaining its grading system.

Do I need to speak Korean, or have IELTS, to apply?

No. Neither TOPIK nor an English test is a condition of applying in the general programmes, because a full year of Korean language training is built into the scholarship and most scholars must reach at least TOPIK 3 during it to proceed to the degree. But language scores earn real evaluation points — TOPIK 3, 4 and 5+ earn 3%, 4% and 5% additional points respectively in GKS-U 2027, using score reports from the official TOPIK site at topik.go.kr — and TOPIK 5 or 6 exempts you from the language year entirely. Individual departments may also have their own language expectations in the University Information file.

Can I apply through both the Embassy Track and the University Track to increase my chances?

No, and attempting it can end both applications. Duplicate applications across tracks or programmes are disregarded in evaluation and cause cancellation if found after selection. The only permitted sequence is: fail the Embassy Track first round, then apply to the University Track in its later window.

How much is the GKS monthly allowance in 2027?

For GKS-U 2027, NIIED publishes KRW 13,560,000 per year in the language programme and KRW 14,400,000 per year in the degree programme — KRW 1,130,000 and KRW 1,200,000 per month by division. For graduate scholars in the most recent graduate guidelines, the comparison figures are KRW 14,400,000 per year in the language year and KRW 16,560,000 per year in degree study (KRW 1,380,000 per month). The allowance is all-inclusive — it must cover accommodation, living costs and health insurance, as well as settlement and completion elements — and NIIED states amounts may change.

Can I apply if one of my parents is Korean?

No, if that parent holds Korean citizenship. Both the applicant and both parents must hold non-Korean citizenship; a dual citizen who holds Korean citizenship alongside another citizenship is not eligible. If Korean citizenship was previously held and renounced, official Korean government documentation proving renunciation must be submitted. The undergraduate UIC programme is treated differently on the citizenship-change rule during selection, but not as a route for Korean citizens to apply — check the current guidelines for any UIC-specific provision that affects you.

What does “apostille or consular confirmation” mean for my certificates?

It means your required certificates — principally graduation certificates and transcripts — must be authenticated in one of the two ways the guidelines accept for your country: an apostille stamp under the Hague Convention process in your country, or confirmation by a Korean consulate. Optional documents do not need it. Requirements differ by track, stage and country, and first-round online applicants upload scans first and provide originals after passing the first round — follow the document-preparation section of your cycle’s guidelines exactly, and prepare multiple legalised copies of your graduation certificate before you travel if you are selected.

If I am selected, can I change my university or major later?

No. The guidelines state that after final selection, transfer to a different field of study is not permitted, and university changes are not allowed under the programme rules described in the graduate guidance either. Embassy Track scholars lock in a final university at the December notification step; University Track scholars applied to one university and department from the start. Choose as if the choice is permanent, because under GKS it effectively is.

Sources & Verification

Verified against official sources published by NIIED on Study in Korea: the GKS programme pages at studyinkorea.go.kr (quotas, durations, graduate and undergraduate eligibility summaries, tracks and the February / September selection timetables); the complete 2027 Global Korea Scholarship Application Guidelines for Undergraduate Degrees published in September 2026 and hosted on studyinkorea.go.kr (286 total scholars, 74 Embassy Track countries with per-country quotas including Bangladesh 3, India 4, Indonesia 4, Nigeria 4 and Pakistan 3, age born on or after 1 March 2002, grade thresholds and conversion appendix, 15–30 September 2026 Embassy window, September–November University window, document and apostille/consular rules, evaluation and additional-points tables, 7 January 2027 final announcement, and the scholarship benefits table of KRW 5 million tuition per semester, KRW 5.2 million language fee per year, and KRW 13,560,000 / 14,400,000 annual allowances); and GKS-G 2026 guideline summaries published through Korean embassy and education-centre notices for the graduate pattern (under 40, July expected-graduation date, February announcement) — with graduate dates in this guide explicitly labelled as pattern dates pending the 2027 GKS-G notice. Graduate benefit comparisons (KRW 14,400,000 language year, KRW 16,560,000 degree year) are presented as the most recent graduate-guideline figures and flagged for re-confirmation in the next GKS-G PDF.

Disclaimer: Scholarship details, quotas, amounts and deadlines change yearly and vary by country, track and programme. Always confirm deadlines, amounts and document rules in the official guideline PDF on studyinkorea.go.kr before applying. StudyGraduate is an information portal, not an agency, and cannot promise selection, admission or visa approval to any applicant.