Niied to celebrate graduation of 562 Global Korea Scholarship recipients

The National Institute for International Education (Niied) is hosting a ceremony for 562 Global Korea Scholarship (GKS) scholars who graduated this year. The ceremony will be held at Niied's office in Seongnam, Gyeonggi.

A photo of the Global Scholarship Korea alumni at the 2022 year-end party, hosted by the National Institute for International Education [NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION]

The National Institute for International Education (Niied) is hosting a ceremony on Wednesday for 562 Global Korea Scholarship (GKS) scholars who graduated this year.

The ceremony will be held at Niied's office in Seongnam, Gyeonggi.

According to Niied, 562 GKS scholars from 103 countries completed their degrees this year. Among them, 26 graduated from undergraduate programs, 465 from graduate programs, 67 from doctoral degree programs and four from research programs.

"I'm grateful for the support of my professors and friends, which allowed me to graduate while going through challenging times of the Covid-19 pandemic," Nirmani Jayasinghe, a student who graduated from Chungnam National University's graduate school program, said. "I will do my best to give back to Korea, a country that gave me the opportunity to study."

Among the graduating scholars, 61 percent of the students are from Asia, 15 percent from Europe, 13 percent from Africa and 11 percent from the Americas.

"We hope their time in Korea can serve as a foundation for their new beginnings," Ryoo Hyea-sook, president of Niied, said. "We plan on creating and managing the network of scholars who have a favorable image of Korea by hosting various activities such as our GKS alumni invitation program."

GKS is a government-funded scholarship that provides full tuition to around 1,300 prospective undergraduate and graduate students each year. Round-trip airfare, monthly stipend and settlement allowance are also granted to GKS scholars.

BY LEE TAE-HEE [lee.taehee2@joongang.co.kr]