The GIST Scholarship 2027 for international students has no separate application form. You apply for graduate admission at the Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology, and every international student who is admitted receives the scholarship automatically.
| Degree Level | M.S., Ph.D., Integrated M.S./Ph.D. |
| Field | Science, engineering and technology. Eleven departments. |
| Host Institution | Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST), South Korea |
| Target Audience | Any nationality. Korean dual nationals cannot use this route. |
| Fee | No application fee. 680,000 KRW matriculation fee after admission, waiver available. |
| Deadline | 7 October 2026, 17:00 KST |
Deadline in your timezone
| Pakistan | 1:00 PM, 7 October 2026 |
| India | 1:30 PM, 7 October 2026 |
| Bangladesh | 2:00 PM, 7 October 2026 |
| Nigeria | 9:00 AM, 7 October 2026 |
What you get
- Tuition: fully waived, 3,607,000 KRW per semester
- Student allowance: 140,000 KRW per month (M.S.), 295,000 KRW (Ph.D.)
- Meal allowance: 100,000 KRW per month
- International student allowance: 120,000 KRW per month
- Research assistantship: around 6,400,000 KRW per year (M.S.), 13,740,000 KRW (Ph.D.)
- Flight: one-way economy airfare to Korea, reimbursed
- Housing: on campus, including married student apartments
- Health insurance: 60 percent of National Health Insurance, plus an annual checkup
Official links
Apply here: 2027 Spring application portal
Required documents, including the fee waiver form
Admission procedure and English requirements
Questions go to admis@gist.ac.kr.
Who can apply for the GIST Scholarship 2027 for international students
- M.S.: a bachelor’s degree. Ph.D.: a bachelor’s and a master’s.
- Expected graduates: the degree must be conferred by the first week of January 2027.
- Documents: English or Korean only, translated by the issuing institution or a public notary.
- Chinese university graduates: a CSSD verification report is required.
- English: TOEFL iBT 80, IELTS 6.5, TOEIC 750 or New TEPS 285.
How to apply
- Order transcripts, notarised translations and the fee waiver letter now. This is the slow part.
- Settle your English route: book a test, or email GIST to confirm an exemption.
- Open the application portal on a Windows computer and register your two referees in that first sitting.
- Message your referees separately so they know a Google Form is coming.
- Upload everything and submit before 7 October, 17:00 KST.
Four things the announcements leave out
There is a fee inside the fully funded package
A one-time matriculation fee of 680,000 KRW is charged to every newly admitted student. A waiver exists, but it needs a letter from the chair of your last university department on GIST’s prescribed form, and it is an application document. Download the form and send it to your chair this week.
Most of the monthly money comes from your lab
The three allowances add up to 360,000 KRW a month for an M.S. student and 515,000 KRW for a Ph.D. student. Everything above that is the research assistantship, which comes from your supervisor’s funded projects, not from a central pot. Ask a prospective supervisor what their students actually receive. Each allowance also carries a condition: nine credits completed in the previous semester for the student and meal allowances, and a GPA of 3.0 out of 4.5 for the international student allowance.
Conditional admission postpones the English test, it does not cancel it
If you cannot sit an official test, GIST may admit you conditionally on a certificate from your dean. You then have six months from admission to produce a qualifying score. Anyone who does not is automatically removed from the school register. Korean Immigration may also ask for a score at the visa stage. Sit the test before 7 October if you possibly can.
Your referees cannot start until you do
GIST accepts recommendation letters only through Google Forms sent to referees you register inside the application, and the link reaches them only after you have moved past that stage. Open the application early. My guide to asking for a PhD reference letter has the request email.
After you submit
- The admissions coordinator confirms your documents. Your department may ask for a remote interview.
- Results go out by email on or around 30 November 2026.
- You have 15 days to respond to an offer.
- If you applied for the Integrated M.S./Ph.D., GIST may offer M.S. admission only, at its own discretion. Decide in advance whether you would take it.
If this round does not work
- Degree conferred after early January 2027: apply for the Fall 2027 intake instead, which closes in mid-April.
- Korean dual national: this route is closed, but domestic graduate admission is not.
- Your field is not at GIST: the Global Korea Scholarship covers a far wider range of universities and subjects.
Tuition genuinely is zero, Gwangju is inexpensive compared with Seoul, and there is no application fee or separate funding competition. Just go in knowing which parts of the package are promises and which are conditions. Start with the documents, not the form.