"The Korean Cultural Center in Turkey has selected candidates for the GKS
- 20% increase in applicants compared to last year
- held online due to pandemic
The Korean Cultural Center has completed the selection of candidates for the graduate school and embassy screening of the GKS (Global Korea Scholarship, scholarship for foreign students provided by the Korean government) program. Starting with the announcement of selection on February 19th, after a three-week application period, 183 students (competition rate approximately 26:1) from Turkey's most prestigious universities, including Hacettepe University, Middle East Technical University, Bilkent University, Istanbul University and Ankara University have applied for scholarship. The amount of applicants increased by around 20% (150 applicants in 2020) compared to last year. The seven candidates for master's and doctorate courses selected through the document screening and online interview screening will start studying in Korea in September after two to three rounds of selection. Among the applicants, there were more than 30 applicants with TOPIK level 3 or higher (10 applicants with level 5 or higher) and there were also applicants with excellent English level.
In the GKS program, the new selection guidelines (10% additional points for applicants with higher than TOPIK level 3) allowed those who were ready to study in Korea to be selected, and the impact of this change has led to a significant increase in the number of applicants for the TOPIK exam in Turkey scheduled for April. Anakiz Elif Senturk, who was selected as a candidate, said, "Studying abroad in Korea through the GKS program was an important goal and dream for me and I have studied Korean, English, and prepared for Korean culture and volunteer work for a long time. I am happy and honored to be selected as the first candidate, and if I have a good result, I will prepare hard before entering Korea. After studying in Korea, I want to come back to Turkey and do something that can contribute to active exchanges between the two countries in the field of international relations. Binnur Uzun, an official at Turkey's Ministry of Education who participated as an interview judge said, "This year, the largest number of students applied and the average academic performance of applicants and foreign language skills such as Korean and English were further improved". She added "We hope that many Turkish students will apply for the GKS program in the future to have the opportunity to study at Korean universities with high-level education systems."
Park Kee-Houng, director of the Korean Cultural Center in Turkey, said, "It was surprising that many of the applicants had the highest levels of TOPIK 5 and 6, and I could understand that Turkish students had been preparing hard for GKS over the years. We expect more people to apply in the future because local students are keenly interested in Korea's education level and universities, and we hope to select talented people who will play a bridge between the two countries."
