Graduate Program

For full-time students who are supported by the Korean government for most of the tuition. Students will also receive government support in the form of tuition aid (~7500,000 KRW per semester) and food expense or assistantship stipend (monthly ~450,000 KRW for PhD course and ~260,000 KRW for master’s course). A PhD student with government-sponsored scholarship should serve as a teaching assistant.

For full-time students who are supported by the KAIST-owned fund for most of the tuition. Research advisors will support a part of tuition (~3,700,000 KRW per semester) from their research funds, and students will have to pay for another part (~750,000 KRW per semester) by themselves.

For full/part-time students who are affiliated with research institutes or corporate. Tuition will be supported by affiliation or paid for by students themselves (~4,050,000 KRW per semester)

Advisor assignments for the master’s degree program

• For students with KAIST scholarship, advisors will be assigned during the admission process after they agree with students on thesis supervision and tuition support.
• For students with government-sponsored scholarship, advisors will be assigned based on students’ preference in principle, but also according to the maximum number of students in the lab, which is decided by the department.
• For a relatively small number of students with general scholarship, advisors will be assigned based on students’ preference.
• Details on advisor assignment will be provided in the new student orientation.

Advisor assignments for the PhD degree program

PhD applicants will suggest potential advisors in the application form. It is common to contact a potential advisor in advance.

Stipend

• KAIST graduate students can receive a stipend by participating in the research projects of advisors. The amount of stipend may vary for each student.
• The KAIST stipend program has been mandated for years to guarantee the minimum amount of financial support for basic welfare of graduate students. While details may vary for the type of scholarship, every student can receive 700,000 KRW for master’s course and 1,100,000 KRW for PhD course from either government support or research project fund.
• In general, KAIST AE graduate students are receiving a stipend much higher than the minimum amount

Special Military Services

KAIST students with government-sponsored or KAIST scholarship who have not completed the military service may start their duty as research agents as long as a new slot is available. Acceptance for special military services will be decided when admission to the PhD program is announced, and the starting time of the duty will be according to the availability of slots after the course work is complete.

Air & Space

KAIST AE holds a graduate school event, Air & Space, every September for new master student orientation, lab introduction/workshop, awarding, and internetworking.