POSTECH is the only university in South Korea that truly rivals KAIST in pure STEM research. Located in the industrial coastal city of Pohang, it was founded by POSCO (one of the world's largest steel companies). Like KAIST, POSTECH is incredibly wealthy and offers automated, fully-funded scholarships to essentially every international student who survives its rigorous admissions gauntlet.
Quick Overview
Full Requirements & Details
Academic Requirements
- Min. CGPA
- 3.5
- Offer Degrees
- Bachelors, Masters, PhD
- Subjects
- Biology, Chemistry, Computer Science, Engineering, Mathematics, Physics
- Seats Available
- Dozens annually
- Study Gap Allowed
- No Restrictions (Gap Allowed)
- Research Publication
- Optional
- Work Experience
- No
- Age Range
- No Age Limit
Language Requirements
- IELTS
- Min. 6.0
- TOEFL
- Min. 79.0
- GRE
- Not Required
- Local Language
- Korean
- Local Lang Test
- No
- Study Languages
- English
Financial Details
- Type
- Full
- Fund Details
- 100% Tuition waiver, monthly stipend (~500k KRW for undergrad, higher for grad), plus settlement/flight allowances for undergrads.
- Monthly Stipend
- KRW 500000/mo
- Tuition
- Full
- Living Costs
- Full
- Travel & Health
- Yes / None
- Application Fee
- 80
- Spouse Allowed
- No
What Matters Most
Required Documents
Why You Should Apply
For undergraduates, the financial package is arguably better than KAIST's. POSTECH offers a 100% tuition waiver, a guaranteed 500,000 KRW monthly stipend (with no GPA requirement for the living allowance component), and they will actually reimburse your one-way flight to Korea (up to 2.5 million KRW). For graduate students, funding is secured through Graduate Research Assistantships (RA) directly from your advising professor's lab, often exceeding 1,000,000 KRW per month.
Application Process
You apply for admission via the POSTECH international admissions portal. The scholarship consideration is automatic. For graduate degrees, you are required to list prospective advising professors on your application, and those professors must agree to fund you before the university will issue an acceptance letter.
How to Win This Scholarship
Because POSTECH is smaller and more intimate than KAIST, research fit is everything for graduate applicants. You cannot just submit high test scores. You must read a specific professor's recent journal articles and write an email explaining exactly how your undergraduate thesis skills translate to their current grant projects.
For undergraduates, your math and science scores must be elite, but they also value students who can survive living in a smaller, intense industrial city rather than the glamorous sprawl of Seoul.
Benefits After Completing Study
Deep connections to heavy industry, material sciences, and quantum research. The student-to-faculty ratio is insanely low, meaning you get direct mentorship that leads to high-impact publications.
Pohang is a relatively quiet industrial city. Do not apply here if you are looking for the K-pop nightlife of Seoul; this is an intense, isolated research bubble. You must maintain a 3.0/4.3 GPA to keep the tuition waiver active.
Official Source
For complete details and to verify all requirements, please refer to the scholarship provider's official website.
Visit Official Source