South Korea's Ministry of Science and ICT and the Korea Scholarship Foundation said on April 13 they will launch the 2026 excellent PhD scholarship programme for science and engineering this year for the first time.

The ministry newly introduced the excellent PhD scholarship this year following the Presidential Science Scholarship for graduate students in 2024 and the excellent master's scholarship for science and engineering in 2025. It will select scholarship recipients from students at graduate schools that apply to take part in the programme. The application period for graduate schools runs from April 14 to 20.

The excellent PhD scholarship plans to select about 1,000 scholarship recipients from science and engineering graduate schools nationwide. It will provide 3.75 million won per semester and 7.5 million won per year. It will allocate about 600 places, or 60 percent of the total, to non-capital regions. Recipients must be full-time PhD students who have entered or are enrolled in departments of natural sciences or engineering at domestic graduate schools in the first semester of this year and meet certain grade requirements.

Graduate schools will recommend students who meet their own selection criteria. Universities operating science and engineering graduate schools will receive allocated slots after applying to participate in the programme with the Korea Scholarship Foundation.

The ministry will push ahead with selecting new scholarship recipients for the excellent master's scholarship programme for science and engineering, which it established last year. It plans to select about 1,000 scholarship recipients from science and engineering graduate schools nationwide, providing 2.5 million won per semester and 5 million won per year. The selection method and the application period for programme participation are the same as those for the excellent PhD scholarship programme.

In line with the state agenda task, "Building a basic research ecosystem and realising a science and technology talent powerhouse", the ministry will expand scholarship support for outstanding science and engineering graduate students, including excellent master's and PhD scholarships, to 10,000 students a year by 2030.

Lee Jun-bae (이준배), director general for future talent policy at the ministry, said, "By introducing the excellent PhD scholarship for science and engineering this year, we have completed a full-cycle scholarship support system for outstanding science and engineering university students." He added, "We will continue to expand support so that young science and technology professionals can grow without interruption."