After winning this scholarship in the summer of 2019, I received a lot of questions and emails, as of today is difficult to find details about this program, I will try my best to write about the process and my overall experience.
What is the Academy of Korean studies (AKS) summer program?
The Academy of Korean Studies is a South Korean research and educational institute with the purpose of establishing profound research on Korean culture. It was established on June 22, 1978, by Ministry of Education & Science Technology of South Korea.
As an important part of their mission is to cultivate young leaders, who can contribute to the development of Korean studies, the academy has organized an intensive summer program for international undergraduate students in Korean studies. This program is composed of various components, such as special lectures on Korea, intensive Korean language course, field trips, excursions, and traditional cultural activities.
The AKS is located close to Seoul (only 30 minutes by bus) so after doing your homework you can take any bus to Seoul station or Gangnam station.
The program lasts for 3 weeks and everything (but your personal expenses and flight ticket) will be sponsored by AKS, sounds too good to be true right? Well, it’s not that easy to be selected, as there’s only 1 spot for each country, thus if you come from a country where korean studies are popular ( China, Vietnam, Kazakhstan etc.) It’s going to be quiet tough! But do not give up, here’s a few tips on how I won this scholarship. Also you can choose to attend the program in July or August. Usually in July students are busy with their exams so if you think your application is weak is much better to apply for the July session.
You need to prepare your documents early. The application usually starts in January/February so remember to check on the AKS site often, documents may vary but what can guarantee you a spot in the program are basically these 3 things.
Topik score: Most of the students from competitive countries had topik 4 or more. But if you are not from one of those countries than any level will be fine (I had a Topik 2 when I applied).
English certificate: Honestly IELTS it’s expensive, but you will need to prove you are fluent enough in english to partecipate in the program, in case you do not have a certification attach a letter from your english professor in uni that explains you are skilled enough to partecipate in the program.
Proposal: This is the most important part where you talk about yourself, it’s really important to stress on why you are studying korean and what are your future plans, I will never stress enough that no matter how much you like k-pop and k-dramas DO NOT MENTION IT in your self statement.
If you did any kind of job related to Korea or you won some award, if you are a top student or you come from a famous university in your country, this is the moment to mention it!
Your major does not need to be Korean studies, most of the students actually were enrolled in a korean course in their country Korean culture institute or elsewhere on the side while majoring in business, chemistry etc.
My experience: I had an awesome time, attended classes about korean language, history and more from famous professors. Made a lot of friends from all over the world and they even brought us on tours around Seoul and to other cities!
For more information check out the AKS site, if you have more questions please do comment and I will try to answer to you ASAP.
The Dosirak Lab 