📅 Last Updated: October 2026
Chonnam National University Scholarships 2027 — MS & PhD
Chonnam National University (CNU), one of South Korea’s flagship national universities, is admitting international master’s and PhD students for Spring 2027. Successful applicants are considered for scholarships that waive 100% of first-semester tuition, and some of them need no separate application.
For Pakistani students, there are two practical advantages. Many departments accept a professor’s confirmation form instead of an IELTS score, and Pakistan is on the Apostille list, so degree verification is simpler. This guide is based on CNU’s official 2027 Spring admission guide. It explains what the scholarships actually cover, the hard requirements other websites leave out, and how to get your documents to Korea in time.
| University/Organization | Chonnam National University (CNU) |
| Country | South Korea (Gwangju & Yeosu campuses) |
| Degree/Level | Master’s, PhD, Integrated Master’s–PhD |
| Funding Type | Full first-semester tuition waiver (Global, SRS, TOPIK, Top-Tier) or partial (Academic Excellence) |
| Deadline | Round 1: 8 Oct 2026 · Round 2: 30 Oct 2026 (18:00 KST) |
| Open To | International Students Worldwide |
| Pakistani Students Eligible | Yes |
| Official Link | Apply Here |
🎓 About Chonnam National University Scholarships 2027
Founded in 1952, Chonnam National University is the leading national university in the Honam region of South Korea. Its main campus is in Gwangju, a city of about 1.4 million people, and it has a second campus in coastal Yeosu. CNU is strong in engineering, agriculture, life sciences and medicine, and it has a growing international graduate community, especially in research labs.
The 2027 Spring call covers master’s, PhD and integrated master’s–PhD programmes across colleges including Engineering, Business Administration, Agriculture & Life Sciences, Nursing, Natural Sciences, Humanities and Arts. The Global MBA has its own separate call.
How does it compare with Korea’s best-known option? The Global Korea Scholarship (GKS) is fully funded, with tuition for the whole degree, a monthly stipend and airfare, but it is fiercely competitive and recruits on a different timetable. CNU’s institutional scholarships are smaller but much easier to obtain: the Global Scholarship considers every admitted applicant automatically. Treat CNU as a solid way into Korean graduate study, and GKS as a separate application worth making alongside it.
💰 Scholarships and Funding
- 🏆 Global Top-Tier Scholarship: full first-semester tuition waiver for newly admitted PhD students. This one needs a separate application form, with the schedule announced later
- 🌍 Global Scholarship: full first-semester tuition waiver. Every successful applicant is considered automatically
- 🇰🇷 TOPIK Scholarship: full first-semester tuition waiver for applicants holding TOPIK Level 6
- 🔬 SRS (Strategic Researchers Scholarship): full first-semester tuition waiver. You must have a prospective CNU advisor
- 🔬 BK SRS: the same waiver for applicants to BK21 departments who have a prospective advisor
- 📈 Academic Excellence Scholarship: a partial first-semester waiver of about 12–17%, with automatic consideration
- ⚠️ Only one scholarship per student, and amounts may change depending on the university’s budget
What this means in money: 2026 tuition per semester is ₩2,502,000 for Humanities & Social Sciences, ₩3,327,000 for Engineering and ₩4,840,000 for Natural Sciences. A full first-semester waiver therefore saves roughly USD 1,800–3,500. A master’s degree normally lasts four semesters, so after the waiver you still pay for three. Many engineering labs in Korea pay research-assistant stipends to their students, but this depends on your professor and isn’t guaranteed by the admission guide (verify with your prospective advisor).
Dormitory (Gwangju, per semester): ₩580,000–1,392,000 depending on room type. International students get priority for housing.
✅ Eligibility Criteria
- Nationality: you and both parents must be non-Korean citizens, or you must have completed all your education outside Korea
- Master’s or integrated programme: a bachelor’s degree, or expected graduation before admission. Switching fields is allowed in most departments
- PhD: a master’s degree. If your master’s is in a different field, you need [Form-7], a recommendation from the head professor of the CNU department you are applying to
- Language (meet ONE): TOPIK Level 3, OR TOEFL iBT 59 / IELTS 5.5 / CEFR B2 / TOEIC 700 / NEW TEPS 202, OR [Form-1] Confirmation of Academic Capability from a prospective CNU professor
- Department rules: some departments add requirements. For example, Business Administration needs IELTS 6.0 or TOPIK 5, Accounting needs TOPIK 5, and Electronics & Computer Engineering needs IELTS 5.5 plus Form-1. Several engineering departments, including Artificial Intelligence, Electrical, Chemical and Polymer Engineering, list Form-1 as their requirement
- Test validity: language scores are valid for 2 years from the test date
English test status: a test is not always required. In many departments, a signed Form-1 from a CNU professor can replace IELTS or TOEFL, but some departments require both. Check your department’s row in the official guide.
Pakistani students: eligible. There is no nationality restriction for Pakistan, and Pakistan is a member of the Hague Apostille Convention, which the guide’s country list confirms.
✅ Strong Candidates
- Engineering, AI and agriculture graduates who can get a CNU professor to sign Form-1, which makes both admission and the SRS scholarship more likely
- Applicants with a CGPA of 3.0 or above and IELTS 5.5–6.5 (academic record and language each count for 50% of the score)
- Pakistani MS and MPhil holders aiming for a lab-funded PhD in Korea
- Students who can show KRW 16 million in a bank account, or get a professor’s funding letter
❌ Not the Right Fit If
- You need full funding for your whole degree with a guaranteed stipend. Look at GKS or POSCO instead
- You can’t courier original, apostilled documents to Korea before 30 October
- You want Business or Accounting but have neither IELTS 6.0 nor TOPIK 5
- Your apostille or notarisation is more than 6 months old
On competitiveness for South Asian applicants: CNU sees many applicants from Pakistan, Bangladesh, India and Nepal in engineering and the sciences. What makes the difference is contacting a professor first. A signed Form-1 or Form-6 from a CNU faculty member shows the department that a lab already wants you, which no transcript can do on its own.
📚 Available Programmes and Fields
The 2027 Spring guide lists graduate departments across these colleges:
- Engineering: Artificial Intelligence, Electrical, Electronics & Computer, Intelligent Electronics & Computer, Information Security Convergence, Mechanical, Chemical, Polymer, Industrial, Energy & Resources, and Environmental & Energy Engineering
- Agriculture & Life Sciences: Agricultural Economics, Convergence Biosystems Engineering, Wood Science, Rural & Bio-systems Engineering, and more
- Business Administration: Business, Economics, Accounting
- Nursing: requires a nursing licence plus language and Form-1
- Other colleges, including Natural Sciences, Humanities, Arts (e.g. Korean Music) and Veterinary Science, with fees and requirements by field
You can apply to only one department. Applying to more than one makes your application invalid. CNU’s admission page also publishes lab introductions from professors who are recruiting. Read them before choosing a department, because they are a direct lead to a Form-1 or Form-6 signature.
📄 Required Documents
Every document must be an original on A4 paper, sent by post or in person. Scans and email aren’t accepted.
- Application Forms 1 & 2, printed from Uway Apply after you apply online
- Bachelor’s degree certificate (or certificate of expected graduation): original, apostilled or notarised
- Master’s degree certificate (PhD applicants)
- Bachelor’s transcripts (and master’s transcripts for PhD applicants), showing grades, credits and admission and graduation years
- Language certificate or [Form-1], which the professor submits directly to CNU’s Office of International Affairs
- [Form-2] Consent to Release Educational Records, [Form-3] Academic Background, [Form-4] Personal Statement, [Form-5] Family Information, [Form-8] Privacy Consent
- Financial proof (choose one): a bank certificate showing KRW 16,000,000 in your or your parents’ name, issued within 30 days; OR [Form-6], a funding letter from your prospective advisor; OR a scholarship certificate
- Passport copy, valid for at least 6 months after admission
- Parents’ passport copies plus a notarised family relationship certificate
Notes for Pakistani applicants:
- Apostille: in Pakistan, degrees are usually attested by HEC first and then apostilled by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA). CNU wants the apostille issued within 6 months of submission, so an old one from a previous application won’t count (verify on official website).
- Family relationship certificate: the NADRA Family Registration Certificate (FRC) is the usual document. It must be notarised, and names must match your passport exactly. If spellings differ, add an affidavit.
- Bank balance: KRW 16 million is roughly PKR 3.2–3.4 million (approximate; check today’s rate). The certificate must show the currency clearly.
🧭 Step-by-Step Application Process
- Read your department’s row in the official 2027 Spring guide to see whether it needs language scores, Form-1, or both.
- Email a CNU professor in your field with your CV and a short research interest note. Ask whether they would complete Form-1, and ideally Form-6.
- Apply online through Uway Apply, CNU’s online application system, and pay the KRW 70,000 fee. You can’t cancel or change department after paying.
- Print Forms 1 & 2 and put all your documents in the order shown in the guide.
- Courier the originals to: Office of International Affairs, G&R Hub Room #214, Chonnam National University, 77 Yongbong-ro, Buk-gu, Gwangju 61186, South Korea.
- Prepare for an interview. Some departments interview online or by phone.
- Check results and pay tuition by the deadline given.
Practical tip: courier delivery from Pakistan to Gwangju usually takes about a week, and CNU says applicants are responsible for any postal problems. For Round 2, aim to dispatch by around 20 October so the documents arrive before 30 October. Also email internia@jnu.ac.kr with your tracking number.
CNU will ask for additional documents for your Korean D-2 student visa after admission, including your own bank certificate (Form-6 is not accepted for the visa).
📅 Important Dates
| Milestone | Date |
|---|---|
| Round 1: online application & documents | 28 Sep – 8 Oct 2026, 18:00 KST |
| Round 1: results | 11 Nov 2026 |
| Round 2: online application & documents | 12 Oct – 30 Oct 2026, 18:00 KST |
| Round 2: results | 23 Dec 2026 |
| Spring 2027 semester begins | March 2027 (verify on official website) |
If your Round 1 documents arrive late, CNU can move your application to Round 2 with your consent.
📌 Bookmark this page. We update deadlines as soon as changes are announced.
🌟 Why Apply
CNU combines a national-university degree with a relatively accessible admission process: IELTS 5.5, or a professor’s confirmation form in many departments, plus automatic scholarship consideration. Tuition is lower than at most private Korean universities, and Gwangju is noticeably cheaper to live in than Seoul.
The biggest opportunity is in the lab system. Students who arrive with a professor’s backing often find research funding inside the lab, which makes a first-semester waiver a realistic start to a much better-funded degree. For fully funded alternatives in Korea, read our guides to the POSCO Global Scholarship and KDI School scholarships, or compare options in our top 10 fully funded scholarships in Asia. You can also browse all Scholarships, research-assistant roles in Jobs & Internships, apostille and SOP help in Guidelines & Resources, and Korea education fairs in Events & Conferences.
❓ Frequently Asked Questions
These questions are based on what students most commonly search about this program.
Q: Can Pakistani students apply to Chonnam National University for Spring 2027?
Yes. Pakistani citizens with non-Korean parents are eligible. Pakistan is on CNU’s Apostille country list, so you can submit apostilled degrees (HEC attestation followed by the MOFA apostille), issued within 6 months of submission.
Q: Can I apply to Chonnam National University without IELTS?
In many departments, yes. You can meet the language requirement with [Form-1] Confirmation of Academic Capability from a prospective CNU professor instead of a test. Some departments, such as Business Administration, Accounting and Electronics & Computer Engineering, require a test score as well, so check your department’s row in the guide.
Q: Is the Chonnam National University scholarship fully funded?
No. The Global, SRS, TOPIK and Top-Tier scholarships waive 100% of tuition for the first semester only. The Academic Excellence Scholarship is a partial waiver of about 12–17%. There is no guaranteed stipend, although many labs fund their research students.
Q: How much bank balance is needed for CNU admission?
KRW 16,000,000 in your or your parents’ name, on a certificate issued within 30 days. Alternatively, a prospective advisor can submit [Form-6], a funding letter. That letter is only for admission, and you will still need a bank certificate for the visa.
Q: Can I email scanned documents to CNU?
No. CNU accepts only original documents, sent by post or delivered in person within the submission window. Copies, scans and email submissions are not accepted.
Q: What is the application fee for Chonnam National University?
KRW 70,000, paid through Uway Apply. It is non-refundable except in specific cases such as errors by the university.
🔗 Official Source
- CNU Office of International Affairs: Graduate Admission
- 2027 Spring Graduate Admission Guide (English PDF)
- Uway Apply: online application
Contact: +82-62-530-5952 · internia@jnu.ac.kr
📊 Summary Table
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| University | Chonnam National University, Gwangju, South Korea |
| Intake | Spring 2027 |
| Degree Level | Master’s, PhD, Integrated Master’s–PhD |
| Scholarships | Global, Global Top-Tier (PhD), TOPIK, SRS, BK SRS: full 1st-semester waiver · Academic Excellence: about 12–17% |
| Language | TOPIK 3 / IELTS 5.5 / TOEFL iBT 59, or professor’s Form-1 (department rules apply) |
| Financial Proof | KRW 16,000,000, or the professor’s Form-6 |
| Application Fee | KRW 70,000 |
| Deadlines | 8 Oct 2026 (Round 1) · 30 Oct 2026 (Round 2), 18:00 KST |
| Results | 11 Nov 2026 · 23 Dec 2026 |
| Pakistani Students Eligible | Yes (Apostille country) |
| Official Link | international.jnu.ac.kr |
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