Guide
How to Be an Exchange Student in Korea: The Complete Guide
You do not need to commit to a four-year degree to study in Korea. A semester, a year, or a summer on a Korean campus is a real, well-trodden path, and there are four distinct ways in. This guide maps all of them.
"Exchange student in Korea" gets used loosely for four different things, and they have very different rules about who can apply and who gets paid. Before anything else, find your route in this table. Everything below it explains each route in depth, with figures verified against the universities' and government's own pages.
- Partner exchange is the classic route: your home university nominates you to a Korean partner, and you keep paying your home tuition. You cannot apply to the Korean university on your own.
- Visiting (fee-paying) programs are the direct-apply version: no partnership needed, but you pay the Korean university. Korea University charges visiting students 5,500,000 KRW per semester, for example.
- Summer schools at Yonsei, SNU, Korea University, SKKU, Ewha, and Hanyang are open to almost anyone with a university enrollment and roughly 2,000,000 to 4,000,000 KRW for tuition.
- The visa follows the route: nominated exchange students get D-2-6, self-funded visiting students get D-2-8, and sub-90-day summer students often enter on a C-3-1 visa or visa-free with K-ETA.
- Government-linked programs exist but are narrow. The GKS exchange grant and DUO-Korea are real money, but both run through your universities, not through an open application.
The four routes at a glance
| Route | Who can apply | Who you pay | Typical length |
|---|---|---|---|
| Partner exchange | Students nominated by a home university with a Korean partnership | Home university (tuition swap) | 1 or 2 semesters |
| Visiting / fee-paying | Any eligible student, applying directly | The Korean university | 1 or 2 semesters, up to 1 year |
| Summer or winter school | Any enrolled university student, applying directly | The Korean university (per course) | 2 to 6 weeks |
| Government-linked (GKS exchange, DUO-Korea, CAMPUS Asia) | Students at participating partner universities, via their university | Grant offsets your costs | Usually 1 semester |
Route 1: partner-university exchange
This is what universities themselves mean by "exchange." Two universities sign an agreement, and each sends students to the other. The defining features, straight from the host universities' own pages:
- You are nominated, not self-selected. SNU's Office of Global Affairs states that candidates "must be officially nominated by their home institution." Your first application is to your own university's international office, which runs its own internal selection months earlier.
- Tuition swap. You pay tuition to your home university and none to the host. SNU says exchange students "pay the tuition fee at their home institution."
- You still pay for life in Korea. Housing, food, insurance, and flights are yours. SNU lists on-campus housing for exchange students at roughly 279,600 to 482,000 KRW per month for undergraduates.
- Credits transfer home, but your home university decides how. Get courses pre-approved before you fly.
Eligibility floors are modest. SNU asks for at least one completed semester and a GPA of 2.5/4.0 for undergraduates (3.0/4.0 for graduate students), with no language certificate required. Korea University asks for 2.5/4.0 and two completed semesters. If your grades are solid and your home university has the partnership, exchange is very winnable.
Route 2: visiting (fee-paying) student programs
No partnership? Several major universities run a direct-apply track for exactly this case, usually called a visiting student program. You apply as an individual, pay the Korean university's tuition, and study alongside exchange students in the same courses.
- SNU Visiting Program: apply directly with an 82,000 KRW application fee and pay SNU tuition. Deadlines run earlier than the exchange track (September 10 for Spring, March 10 for Fall), and visiting students are not eligible for on-campus housing or SNU scholarships.
- Korea University Visiting Student Program: 5,500,000 KRW per semester, application windows April 1 to 30 for Fall and October 1 to 31 for Spring, no nomination required.
- Yonsei runs a visiting track inside its Study Abroad at Yonsei program, alongside exchange.
- Ewha takes direct visiting applications from April 15 to May 15 for Fall and October 15 to November 15 for Spring.
- KAIST does not run a fee-paying visiting semester: its inbound exchange is limited to partner nominees, and the only open route is a visiting researcher position.
The full comparison, including what each difference costs you, is in exchange vs visiting student.
Route 3: summer and winter schools
The lowest-commitment route: four to six weeks in June and July, real credits, and direct application with no partnership needed. In 2026, tuition at the major programs ran from about 1,200,000 KRW for a single SNU course to 4,130,000 KRW for three courses at Yonsei, plus an application fee of 100,000 to 200,000 KRW. Minimum eligibility is generally just enrollment at a university, sometimes with a modest GPA floor.
Dates, fees, deadlines, and dorm costs for all six major programs are tabulated in the summer schools guide, and the same table lives on the exchange hub.
Route 4: government-linked mobility
These are real programs with real money, but read the eligibility line before you get attached. All of them run through universities, not open applications.
- GKS exchange grant (NIIED). The Korean government funds a small number of incoming exchange students: 630,000 KRW per month for one semester plus round-trip airfare. You must already be an exchange student under a university agreement, with grades of 80% or above, and your Korean host university applies on your behalf. You cannot apply to NIIED directly. This is a top-up for route 1, not a separate way in.
- DUO-Korea (ASEM-DUO). For exchanges between Korean and European partner universities: 4,000 EUR per person for up to one semester. The Korean partner university files the application for the pair of students.
- CAMPUS Asia. Consortium-based exchange and dual-degree tracks among Korean, Japanese, and Chinese universities (plus ASEAN in the Plus expansion). Eligibility is limited to students already enrolled at member universities of a consortium.
If none of these fit, remember that the mainstream scholarship landscape is aimed at degree students; for a single semester, the honest funding sources are these programs and your home university's own study-abroad grants.
The visa, in one paragraph
The visa follows the route. Nominated exchange students apply for the D-2-6 exchange student visa; self-funded visiting students apply for the D-2-8 visiting student visa (some consulates label it "short-term study"); and summer students on programs under 90 days often enter on a C-3-1 short-term visa or visa-free with K-ETA, following their program's guidance. Anyone staying past 90 days registers for a residence card after arrival. The details, documents, and edge cases are in the D-2-6 visa guide.
What a semester really costs
Exchange students escape Korean tuition but not Korean life: budget for housing, mandatory health insurance once you register (roughly 40,000 KRW per month at the student rate), food, transport, and flights. Visiting students add the host tuition on top. The line-by-line budget with sources is in what a semester in Korea costs.
How to start, by situation
- Your university has Korean partners: talk to your international office this month and ask for the nomination calendar. Then read the timeline guide.
- No partnership, but you want a semester: shortlist from the visiting programs above and check the exchange vs visiting comparison.
- You want a taste first: pick a summer school. Several deadlines fall in March to May for a June start.
- You loved it and want the full degree: that is a different, bigger door, and it is the one this site exists for. Start with how to study in Korea.