Scholarships to begin in October for Ukrainian students in S. Korea

South Korea's Ministry of Education will offer all Ukrainian college students in South Korea scholarships and living subsidies from October, the National Institute for International Education announced Tuesday.

The ministry revised its basic plan to support the Global Korea Scholarship, a scholarship program for government-invited students, to offer a total of 780 million won ($578,000) to cover the tuition and living costs of Ukrainian students enrolled at South Korean colleges for the fall semester.

“As it is humanitarian support, we will not carry out any screening to select recipients. … We will provide scholarships to any students recommended by colleges,” an official from NIIED told The Korea Herald.

The scholarship will offer up to 5 million won for diploma course students and 2 million won for students in language training.

In addition, students at four-year universities, two-year colleges and language training centers will receive 900,000 won monthly, while those at graduate school will receive 1 million won a month.

Among the 153 Ukrainian students in Korea, the GKS program will newly cover 99, with 39 already in the program, nine who did not enroll for the fall semester and six who completed their course.

The move is a follow-up action to the pledge that South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol made on July 15 on his visit to Kyiv.

Yoon announced after he met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that he would establish a scholarship to support Ukrainian students’ academic careers in South Korea.

The NIIED plans to begin doling out the support in October, after verifying the list of Ukrainian students and receiving recommendations from the academic institutions, through the end of the fall semester in December.