Kyungpook National University (KNU) Admission Guide

A flagship national university in Daegu

Kyungpook National University (KNU) is one of Korea's flagship national universities — the public institutions established to anchor higher education in each region — and it serves the Daegu-Gyeongbuk area in the country's southeast.

As a national university it charges tuition under the public fee structure rather than setting it commercially, which generally places it below comparable private universities; Daegu's living costs are also typically lower than Seoul's. For an international applicant weighing cost against research infrastructure, that combination is the core of KNU's case. Its colleges span engineering, medicine, IT and electronics, and the natural sciences, and most degrees are taught in Korean.

• Flagship national (public) university serving Daegu and Gyeongbuk
• Engineering, medicine, IT/electronics and natural sciences
• Public tuition structure; Daegu living costs typically below Seoul

Eight international routes — pick the right one first

KNU's Office of International Affairs (OIA) does not run a single 'international admission'. It publishes eight distinct international programs, and applying under the wrong one wastes a cycle:

Academic Degree Program (undergraduate and graduate); Exchange Student Program; Double Degree Program; Visiting Student (Free Mover) Program; Korean Language Program; Summer School Program; Visiting Scholar Program; and the Global Challenger Program.

Only the Academic Degree Program leads to a KNU degree from scratch. Exchange and Double Degree run through an agreement with your home university, Free Mover covers study without one, and the language, summer, scholar and challenger routes are non-degree. Identify your route on the OIA pages before you read any requirement, because the eligibility and documents differ by route.

Undergraduate, graduate and overseas-Korean tracks

Within degree admission, KNU separates its guidance further. It publishes an undergraduate international admission page and a distinct graduate international admission page, each carrying its own admission guide for the intake, plus a separate track for applicants of Korean origin who completed their education overseas — a category with different eligibility from the general international route.

Undergraduate selection is document-based, with an interview possible for some programs; graduate and research admission is arranged per college and department and may involve approaching a prospective supervisor. KNU's international admission guides are published in several languages — Korean, English, Chinese, Vietnamese and Japanese — but the binding version is the official guide for your intake and route, not a summary.

Cost profile and the GKS pathway

National-university tuition follows the government-linked fee structure, though the exact figure still depends on your college and program — an engineering or medical program does not cost the same as a humanities one. KNU also runs its own international-student scholarships and tuition reductions.

Separately, KNU is among the Korean universities that feature in the Global Korea Scholarship (GKS), the government-invited scholarship program administered by NIIED, which can fully fund selected students. GKS is highly competitive and selective: no place and no award can be guaranteed, and any agent claiming otherwise should be treated as a scam. Check current KNU scholarship terms on the university's pages and GKS eligibility on the government Study in Korea site.

Language evidence, documents and intakes

Korean-taught programs ask for Korean-proficiency evidence such as a TOPIK level, with a higher level generally expected to progress and graduate rather than only to enter; English-taught programs ask for an English test score unless you qualify for a waiver. KNU sets which tests it accepts and at what level, and this differs by program and intake.

A degree application typically needs academic transcripts and graduation certificates, language-proficiency evidence, passport and identity documents, financial evidence and any program-specific items, following KNU's own translation, notarisation or apostille rules.

KNU admits for spring and fall, with application windows opening months earlier. Every cutoff, fee and date here is set by the university and changes each cycle — take them from the official admission guide for your intake rather than from third-party figures.