Guide
POSCO Asia Fellowship
The POSCO Asia Fellowship still exists, but not under that name, and not with the rules most websites still list. The POSCO TJ Park Foundation renamed it and, in doing so, opened it to people it used to exclude. If a listing page told you that you were ineligible, read this before you believe it.
What happened to the POSCO Asia Fellowship
It was renamed. The POSCO TJ Park Foundation, the philanthropic arm of the POSCO Group, now calls this award the POSCO Global Scholarship in Korea. It is the same fully funded graduate scholarship, run by the same foundation, out of the same office. It was not cancelled, and it was not replaced by a competing program.
What did change is who it is for. The old Asia Fellowship was, as the name says, for students from Asia, and in practice for students in STEM. The Global Scholarship is open to nationals of countries across Asia, the Americas, Europe, and Africa, and to the humanities and social sciences as well as the sciences and engineering.
- The POSCO Asia Fellowship is now the POSCO Global Scholarship in Korea. Same foundation, same money, new name, wider eligibility.
- It is no longer Asia-only. The Foundation's own 2026 scholar list includes American, Brazilian, and German students.
- It is no longer STEM-only. The humanities and social sciences now qualify.
- You cannot apply to POSCO directly. Your university nominates you after you are admitted. Any page telling you to send POSCO an application is out of date.
- It is still fully funded. Full tuition, KRW 1,000,000 a month, a settlement allowance, health insurance, and Korean lessons. No airfare.
Why almost every website still gets this wrong
The rename is not obvious from the outside, because the Foundation never scrubbed the old name from its own systems. All of the following are true right now:
- The program's official pages still sit under an /asia/ web address (
postf.org/en/asia/abroad/). - The scholarship's contact address is still asiafellowship@postf.org.
- The page listing the current scholars is still headed "Scholarship for Asian Students Studying in Korea", even though the 2026 cohort displayed on it includes scholars from the United States, Brazil, and Germany.
So the legacy branding is still visible, scholarship listing sites keep copying it forward, and each new post copies the last. That is why you will find pages confidently describing a nine-university, STEM-only, Asian-nationals-only fellowship you apply to directly.
What changed, precisely
| What the listing sites still say | What the Foundation says now | |
|---|---|---|
| Name | POSCO Asia Fellowship | POSCO Global Scholarship in Korea |
| Who can apply | Asian nationals only | Nationals of the Foundation's designated countries across Asia, the Americas, Europe, and Africa |
| Fields | STEM only (science, technology, engineering, math) | Humanities, social sciences, natural sciences, and engineering |
| How you get in | Apply directly to the Foundation, then choose universities | Your university nominates you after you are admitted |
| Partner universities | 9 (adding KAIST, Sungkyunkwan, Hanyang, Kyung Hee, Ewha) | 6 (SNU, Yonsei, Korea University, POSTECH, KDI School, AKS) |
| Living allowance | KRW 1,000,000 per month | KRW 1,000,000 per month |
The money did not get worse. The door got wider.
Do you still qualify?
This is the question most people arrive with, and for a lot of readers the answer has flipped from no to yes. Work through these four in order.
- Nationality. You must be a citizen of one of the countries the Foundation designates for the cycle, and you must not hold Korean nationality (dual citizens are excluded). The current list spans four regions, so being outside Asia no longer rules you out on its own.
- Field. Your major must be in the humanities, social sciences, or the natural sciences and engineering. Being outside STEM no longer rules you out.
- Admission. You must be a newly admitted international student at one of the six partner universities for the target semester, in a master's, doctoral, or integrated master's-doctoral program. This is the hard gate, and it is the one you actually control.
- Korean. TOPIK Level 2 or higher is preferred and helps you at selection, but it is not required to apply.
The eligible countries
The Foundation designates a list of countries each cycle. This is the list its own FAQ currently publishes: 26 countries across four regions.
| Region | Countries | Count |
|---|---|---|
| Asia | China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates, Vietnam | 13 |
| Americas | Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, United States | 4 |
| Europe | Germany, Italy, Poland, Slovakia, Türkiye, United Kingdom | 6 |
| Africa | Egypt, Morocco, South Africa | 3 |
What it pays
| Benefit | What you get |
|---|---|
| Tuition | Full coverage for the normative program period: 2 years (master's), 3 years (doctoral or integrated) |
| Living allowance | KRW 1,000,000 per month, roughly 22 months for a master's and 36 for a doctorate |
| Settlement allowance | One-time payment of KRW 1,000,000 |
| Health insurance | National health insurance premiums covered |
| Korean language | Korean language education provided by the Foundation |
| Airfare | Not covered. Budget your flights separately |
You also cannot stack it. Recipients may not hold other external scholarships at the same time, and it is explicitly marked GKS inapplicable, so it is this award or the Global Korea Scholarship, not both.
How to actually get it
Because you cannot apply to the Foundation, the entire game is admission plus nomination. In short: get admitted to one of the six partner universities in an eligible field, tell that university's international office you want to be considered, and let them nominate you (typically in November and December, on each school's own internal deadline). The Foundation then asks nominees for a personal statement, interviews them online, and announces in January.
That is the compressed version. The full walkthrough, including the six partner universities, each one's nomination quirks, the five criteria the Foundation scores you on, and the obligations you take on if you win, is in the main guide.
What to do next
- Check your nationality against the current designated-country list, and confirm your field qualifies. If an old page ruled you out for being non-Asian or non-STEM, ignore it.
- Read the full POSCO Global Scholarship guide for the partner universities, the nomination timeline, and the selection criteria.
- Focus on the real gate: graduate admission. Our graduate school in Korea guide and statement of purpose guide cover the application that decides everything.
- Weigh it honestly against GKS and the wider field of fully funded scholarships in Korea, since you can only hold one.