The Korea Student Aid Foundation (Chairman Bae Byungil) and the Ministry of Science and ICT (Minister Yoo Sangim) announced on June 10 that they have selected 121 new recipients for the 2025 Presidential Science Scholarship for Graduate Students. The program aims to support master's and doctoral students in science and engineering fields so that they can grow into world-class research talent and become assets for the future growth of national science and technology.
The Korea Student Aid Foundation is a quasi-governmental organization under the Ministry of Education, established in 2009 to provide professional and comprehensive financial support for higher education, ensuring that anyone can have access to higher education opportunities regardless of economic circumstances and based on their will and ability. With an annual budget exceeding 11 trillion won, the foundation operates a variety of programs to foster future talent, including the National Scholarship for Outstanding Students, the National Scholarship, student loans, the National Work-Study Scholarship, donations, and mentoring. In 2024 alone, the foundation implemented 12 scholarship programs totaling 4.6 trillion won (benefiting 1.24 million students), as well as student loans totaling 2.1 trillion won (benefiting 630,000 students).
This is the second round of selection for the Presidential Science Scholarship for Graduate Students. The newly selected recipients include 50 master's students (25 new students and 25 current students) and 71 doctoral students (31 new students and 40 current students), for a total of 121 students.
The selection process consisted of individual applications from master's and doctoral students, followed by a first stage of document screening and a second stage of in-depth interviews. At each stage, the review panels were composed of experts from the Korea Research Foundation's field-specific expert pool to ensure a fair and professional evaluation.
This year, the competition rate for the Presidential Science Scholarship for Graduate Students was approximately 20 to 1, with 2,355 applicants, reflecting high demand and interest among outstanding science and engineering talent. The number of recipients in each field was allocated in proportion to the number of applicants. By major category, 17 students were selected in natural sciences (8 master's, 9 doctoral), 23 in life sciences (9 master's, 14 doctoral), 33 in engineering (15 master's, 18 doctoral), and 48 in ICT convergence research (18 master's, 30 doctoral).
Notably, this year, scholarship recipients were selected from 37 graduate schools, compared to 29 last year. Students from diverse regions, including Kongju National University (Chungcheong region), Kangwon National University (Gangwon region), and Gyeongbuk National University (Gyeongsang region), were ultimately selected as Presidential Science Scholars with outstanding results.
Bae Byungil, Chairman of the Korea Student Aid Foundation, stated, "We will continue to focus on nurturing and supporting outstanding research talent to meet the expectations and interests of science and engineering graduate students." He added, "The Korea Student Aid Foundation will strive to provide comprehensive support, including scholarship assistance and growth support programs, to help science and engineering graduate students establish a stable research environment and grow into top-tier research talent."
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