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Bachelor's degree in Korea: who can apply and how

Sources read up to October 21, 2026; the education ministry's handbook is the edition of March 27, 2026.

Applying as an international student

Can I apply as a foreigner?
Korea's higher-education decree counts 3 groups of foreign applicants outside a university's quota: foreigners with two foreign parents, applicants schooled entirely abroad, and, under KCUE's rules, children of parents working abroad, capped at 2% of the quota.
Korean or English?
The education ministry recommends that four-year universities admit student-visa applicants at TOPIK 3 or above, or with English scores for English-taught programmes; where the university allows it, TOPIK 2 applicants may enter with at least 300 hours of Korean in year one.
How and when?
You apply to each university; where both parents are foreign or all schooling was abroad, each university may set its dates inside KCUE's window, an outer limit, not a deadline: for March 2027 entry, July 6, 2026 to February 28, 2027.
What do I send?
Study in Korea lists a high school diploma, transcripts, proof of Korean and of your parents' nationality; Korea's visa rules ask degree students for at least 20,000,000 won a year at a capital-region university.

Not here: each university's dates and documents, rankings, English-programme lists, agents.

Who can apply to a Korean university as an international student?

Each university admits its own undergraduate students, on the routes below; KCUE's plan for 2028 entry also lists 165 early-round places nationwide within the quota for overseas Koreans and foreigners.

Routes outside the quota

Both parents foreign (clause 6)
Foreigners whose parents are both foreign. KCUE's rules: both parents and the student must have become foreign nationals before the student began the equivalent of Korean high school. No cap.
All schooling abroad (clause 7)
Overseas Koreans, foreigners and naturalised spouses of Koreans who completed abroad the equivalent of Korean primary and secondary schooling, all of it. No cap.
A parent working abroad (clause 2)
KCUE's rules: overseas Koreans and foreigners who completed the equivalent of Korea's 12 grades, with a parent who worked or did business abroad for at least 3 years and lived there with their spouse for 2/3 of each year, and who themselves lived there for 3/4 of each year and, while that parent worked there, studied there for at least 3 middle- and high-school years, at least 1 of them in high school. KCUE caps it at 2% of the entry quota; its rules set which days count.

Each university's admission guide sets other details, such as dual nationality.

Schooling abroad

Korea's school decree counts 12 or more years of schooling abroad, or a foreign curriculum the education ministry recognises, completed in full, as equal to high school.

The ministry's handbook applies it: schooling completed in full in one country counts, whatever its length; schooling spread over 2 or more countries must add up to 12 years, or 11 if the last 3 were in one country, and university study there can fill a gap its grade system leaves; the institution decides.

For clauses 2 and 7, KCUE allows at most 1 term lost to differing school systems (at least 23 terms in all); for clause 7 it only recommends counting full schooling in one country's system that took under 12 years. On every foreign-applicant special route, equivalency exams, homeschooling and online study do not count.

How much Korean or English do you need?

For student-visa holders admitted because both parents are foreign or all their schooling was abroad, the education ministry's handbook recommends, but does not require, that universities admit at TOPIK 3 or above, with level 4 or above reached by graduation, or use English scores for English-taught programmes; each university sets its own level.

Korean (TOPIK)

CourseHandbook's recommended TOPIK level
Four-year university3 or above to enter, 4 or above by graduation
Junior college (associate degree)2 or above to enter, 3 or above by graduation

TOPIK IBT counts the same; Study in Korea notes that the level each university asks for can differ. What each level means: TOPIK levels.

Entering below the recommended level

TOPIK 2 and Korean classes
The handbook lets a four-year university admit a TOPIK 2 holder who, in the first year, takes at least 300 hours of Korean (120 if level 3 comes in the first term; up to 20 hours of a university-designated course in the year before entry may count) or a KIIP or King Sejong Institute course.
The university's language institute
The handbook also lets a university admit a student who completed at least 1 year at its own language institute in Korea and passed the university's own test at TOPIK 3 level (level 2 for a junior college). Language-course visa
Below level 4 at graduation

Without TOPIK 4 by graduation, the handbook lets the university accept at least 90% of the level's score with at least 90% attendance and a C average or better.

English-taught programmes

For admission to an English-taught programme, where at least 50% of the credits needed to graduate are taught in English, the education ministry's handbook recommends one of these scores or above, or an equivalent score on a Korean nationally accredited English test, and no English level for graduation.

IELTS
5.5
CEFR
B2
NEW TEPS
202

TOEFL iBT: 3.5 or above on the new score scale for tests taken from January 21, 2026; 59 or above on the earlier scale for tests taken by January 20, 2026, accepted until January 20, 2028 at the latest.

Nationals of a country where English is a native or official language may be admitted without a score, with proof that they completed secondary or higher education. These are admission levels; the Justice Ministry's rule for part-time work uses other scores.

The handbook's option of a TOPIK 3 graduation level in fewer than 20% of a university's science and engineering departments, designated in its rules, does not apply to students entering from September 1, 2026, transfers included.

KIIP and King Sejong Institute equivalents
  • TOPIK 2: KIIP pre-assessment 41 or above, or KIIP stage 2 completed; King Sejong Institute 초급2 completed.
  • TOPIK 3: KIIP pre-assessment 61 or above, or KIIP stage 3 completed; King Sejong Institute 중급1 completed.
  • TOPIK 4: KIIP pre-assessment 81 or above, or KIIP stage 4 completed; King Sejong Institute 중급2 completed.

Only a basic-course certificate from a King Sejong Institute abroad counts, not online courses.

At universities rated lower in the visa review, nationals of the 21 countries the Justice Minister lists and of 5 key-management countries may be asked for a language level of their own under the Ministry of Justice's visa rules: D-4 page.

How and when do you apply?

You apply to each university, online or by post, following its own admission guide; Study in Korea describes 5 usual steps, and some universities also hold a test or interview.

  1. Choose a university and a department.
  2. Apply to it.
  3. Receive its standard admission letter (표준입학허가서).
  4. Prepare the visa documents.
  5. Apply for the D-2 visa.

When

For applicants whose parents are both foreign or who did all their schooling abroad, the decree lets each university set its own selection schedule; KCUE's rules give the national window it must fall inside.

2027 entry
  • March entry: Jul 6, 2026 to Feb 28, 2027
  • September entry: Mar 1, 2027 to Aug 31, 2027
2028 entry
  • March entry: Jul 5, 2027 to Feb 29, 2028
  • September entry: Mar 1, 2028 to Aug 31, 2028

These are outer limits, not deadlines: each university sets its application, selection, results and enrolment dates inside them, sometimes in several rounds. Study in Korea says to check each university's guide and schedule; some list them on its online application page.

Children of parents working abroad can apply in KCUE's early round: for 2028 entry, on at least 3 days a university picks within Jul 5, 2027 to Jul 9, 2027 or Sep 20, 2027 to Sep 23, 2027; KCUE recommends July or August. A university may also run this route in its regular round, so check its guide.

Transfer (Study in Korea): foreigners with two foreign parents or schooled entirely abroad, after at least 2 years at a four-year university in Korea or abroad, and junior-college graduates or expected graduates usually transfer in March or September.

What do universities ask for?

Study in Korea lists 8 documents; the education ministry's handbook leaves academic documents to each university, and lets country-specific proof of high-school-level schooling count under the visa rules.

Documents and funds

  1. Application form
  2. High school diploma, or an expected-graduation certificate
  3. Transcripts for every high school year
  4. Personal statement and study plan
  5. Proof of Korean
  6. Copy of your passport
  7. Copy of your residence card, if you have one
  8. Family relation certificate (가족관계증명서) or household register (호구부), to prove your parents' nationality

For a degree course, the handbook has universities check funds of at least 20,000,000 won a year at a university in the capital region and 16,000,000 won elsewhere, the sums the Ministry of Justice sets for the visa; for a stay under a year, tuition plus living costs for those months.

Bank certificate, guarantors, alternatives and the apostille for school documents: D-2 visa page.

What the handbook tells universities

The handbook has each university write its own admission rules, and tells universities:

  • to avoid asking for an admission deposit;
  • that admitting students for money or fees from agencies is banned;
  • to take tuition, and refund it, in the student's own name as a rule (where unavoidable, refunds to immediate family or a legal guardian and group payments; transfers from foreign governments or partner universities).

What does it cost, and which visa and scholarships apply?

Under the Ministry of Justice's rules, international students on a bachelor's course apply for the D-2-2 visa, and on an associate course for D-2-1.

Sources

An independent summary of national rules, not the rules themselves; each university's admission guide decides each application.