Every year the Admissions Office sends officers abroad to promote and increase awareness of KAIST. This spring, there have been two scheduled trips to Turkey and to Vietnam, each with a different purpose.

From late March to early April, the first trip was to nine high schools in four cities in Turkey (Istanbul, Bursa, Izmir, and Ankara). Organized directly between the Admissions Office and the high schools, these visits were conducted to introduce Turkish high school students to KAIST and explain the admissions procedure to interested students.

This trip is not the first of its kind as the Admissions Office has also made visits to schools in various countries, which include Ukraine, Thailand, and Kazakhstan, in previous years. The visits have had a regular audience of around twenty to sixty students from each school. Although in recent visits safety has been a recurring concern of the parents due to the increased tension between the two Koreas, the responses from the students have been positive, with many students enthusiastic about and interested in Korean culture.

In late April, the second trip to Vietnam will be of a different nature, as it will be a visit prepared by the National Institute for International Education (NIIED), an organization under the Ministry of Education in Korea. KAIST will be one of the 47 Korean universities taking part in an education fair held at the Hanoi International Center for Education. KAIST will be represented among a wide variety of schools across the country along with top-tier schools like Seoul National University and Yonsei University. This fair will serve as an exhibition for Vietnamese high school students to learn of the educational opportunities in Korea and meet representatives from each of the different schools and, in the case of KAIST, Vietnamese alumni.

NIIED is also known for providing Korean government scholarships to selected recipients from foreign countries, financing one year of Korean language classes prior to full-time enrollment in a Korean university for either undergraduate or graduate studies. Recipients are also given a monthly allowance of around 800,000 Korean Won for undergraduate studies (900,000 for graduate studies) in addition to tuition coverage, insurance, and other benefits. Past and current recipients attending KAIST have come from Vietnam, Thailand, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, Pakistan, India, Indonesia, and China.

The response from students who have received the scholarship are nothing but positive. Current recipient Alexis Fung from Venezuela praised the program stating, "The Korean Government Scholarship Program not only brings you an opportunity to study at the best educational institutions in Korea but also provides you with enough resources to have a comfortable living while integrating into the Korean culture."

For those interested in applying for the graduate program, more details regarding eligibility requirements and application procedures can be found at the program’s homepage at http://www.niied.go.kr/eng/contents.do?contentsNo=78&menuNo=349.