Incoming Exchange: Applying to KAIST
Who can apply?
An Inbound Exchange student is someone from one of our partner institutions who meets the exchange eligibility requirements. (These
requirements may vary for each institution. Check detailed eligibility requirements for your institution with your international student
exchange advisors).
Depending on the institutional agreement, eligible students may study for one or two semesters at KAIST. The tuition fees are to be paid to
their home university. If you wish to study at KAIST as an exchange student, you should first contact the Exchange Coordinator at your
home university for the details of the selection process such as eligibility, required documents and deadlines.
Check out KAIST’s list of Partner Institutions to be sure that your school is included.
KAIST will only process applications with official nominations from our partner universities.
NOTEPlease be kindly notified that application to the College of Business in our Seoul Campus is handled separately from the one of Main Campus in Daejeon. We have different registration systems, and the online registration link that we have is ONLY for the students coming to the Daejeon Campus. If you wish to apply for the Seoul Campus, please send us an email for contact information.
Entry Requirements
In order to apply for the Inbound Exchange Program you must satisfy the following criteria :
- Minimum 1 year of full-time study at a partner university
- GPA (Grade Point Average) of 3.0 or better (on a 4.3 point scale) or equivalent
- TOEFL iBT 80 or its equivalent in other English language proficiency test
Nomination by Email
- Nomination should be sent to incomingexchange@kaist.ac.kr by home university coordinator before proceeding with your online registration.
- Home university coordinator should include the following information in the nominations: Full name, Major, Program, Year of study, GPA & English test result
Nomination Deadline
- Spring term: October 1st
- Fall term: April 1st
Application Period
- Spring term: September 1st - October 15th
- Fall term: March 1st - April 15th
Application Procedure
A. Once your nomination is accepted by the IRT, please proceed with the online registration by clicking on the orange button "Click here for Registration" on the right top of this page.
B. Online registration
※ In order for you to sign up on our webpage, you must provide a nomination code. If you are officially nominated by your university, please contact your home university coordinator to ask for the code.- Create an account with your email address (nomination code required)
- Complete the online application form and upload the following required documents
- - Original (Official) Transcripts; All in English
- - English Language Proficiency Test Result
- - Copy of Passport; not your student ID or ID card of your country
Applicants must make sure to press the “Submit” button after completing their applications. Pressing “Temporarily Save” does not mean that it is submitted.
C. Useful Links
- Course Information - http://cais.kaist.ac.kr/totalOpeningCourse
- Dormitory - http://kds.kaist.ac.kr/
- Visa & Campus Life - Campus Life
Timeline
Semester | Application Deadline | Screening Procedure | E-mail Notification of Acceptance |
Welcome Packages sent |
---|---|---|---|---|
Spring | October 15 | Oct-Nov | Late Nov | Early Dec |
Fall | April 15 | Apr-May | Late May | Early June |
※ Please be reminded that the Certificate of Admission can only be sent to students who provided a valid copy of their passports.
Course Information for Applicants
- Undergraduates (Bachelor)
- - Minimum of 4 courses (12 credits)
- - Maximum of 8 courses (24 credits)
- Graduates (Master)
- - Minimum of 3 courses (9 credits)
- - Maximum of 4 courses (12 credits)
- Please make sure that 50% of the courses you take are from your major (department at KAIST).
- Students from combined programs of Bachelor and Master (ex. 5-year program), please be extra cautious when choosing your program at KAIST. If you are going to be master, but currently bachelor, you should choose MS (master). Remember that there is no 5th year in bachelor at KAIST, so please do not get confused with the year. If you are not sure of what to choose, please email us and seek for our advise before proceeding with your application.
IMPORTANT NOTICE
- Many of the students coming from European institutions attempt to do a thesis work during an exchange semester.
Please note that thesis courses are not open for exchange students to register. However, if you still must do a thesis work in KAIST, the only way for you to do so is to register for the Individual Studies course(only on condition that you received an approval from the professor in charge). Also, please remember that the Individual Studies course is worth 1 credit. It is not possible to change the number of credits for the course. - Students are not allowed to register for courses from different levels of degree program.
However, there is a chance for students to do so during course add/drop period (after arriving at KAIST), if they personally get a permission from the professor in charge on the paper course add/drop form, NOT through online portal system.
Bachelor students should only take courses for Bachelors and vice versa for Master students.
The courses are classified by the course code/number. Course No. of 1xx~4xx is for Bachelors, 5xx~8xx is for Masters.
Please remember that courses of 4xx and 5xx could be for both bachelor and master students depending on the course type. You must check it first on the course information link below to see if it is offered for the both degrees, if so, you can register for those courses online. (ex. MS211 = Bachelor course, BiS752 = Master course)
* For more information about Course Code and Number Indication, please visit the following webpage.
http://www.kaist.edu/html/en/edu/edu_03030401.html - There is no official calculation to define the equivalence of ECTS and KAIST credits. The conversion for credits should be figured out according to your home university's regulation and follow their calculation. Please kindly consult your home university’s coordinator for credit transfer issues.
- - Course list for each semester is uploaded 2 months prior to the starting date of a semester.
The list of previous year as the courses are usually offered similarly on a yearly basis. - - Course Information link: cais.kaist.ac.kr/totalOpeningCourse
- - Course list for each semester is uploaded 2 months prior to the starting date of a semester.
- Transcripts
- 2 copies of official transcripts will be delivered to your home university coordinators by IRT. Please be aware that it could take up to 2 months after the semester has ended.
KAIST International Relations Team Facebook Page
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Visit our facebook page(https://www.facebook.com/kaistirtirt) to find out more about life at KAIST.