Empowerment
Good Samaritan Scholarship
The Good Samaritan Scholarship is a scholarship project supporting the higher education and vocational education of refugee youth and young adults living in Korea. MAP runs it, and Good Samaritan's House, a migrant and refugee shelter in Uijeongbu, sponsors it. Scholarship recipients receive up to 2.5 million won for three months, along with counseling, information and networking.
Background
Education is the way refugee young people redesign their lives after flight. UNHCR has presented widening refugees' access to higher education as a shared task of the international community.
Many refugee young people in Korea want to go to university or receive vocational training but put their dreams off because they cannot afford tuition and living costs together. They lack the information and connections to know what paths exist, and the burden of combining work and study is heavy. Among support for refugees, support for young people is relatively scarce.
MAP runs this scholarship together with Good Samaritan's House, a migrant and refugee shelter in Uijeongbu. In addition to the scholarship, it connects counseling, information and people, helping scholarship recipients move forward one step at a time.
What we do
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Scholarship payment
Selected scholarship students receive funds used for building their capacity, such as Korean language study, vocational education and university tuition.
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Tailored information, career counseling and shelter linkage
MAP offers guidance on scholarship use plans, higher education and vocational education information and Korean language study, and holds personal statement and interview workshops and career counseling. When needed, it supports linkage to shelter and psychological counseling.
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Volunteer work and networking
Scholarship students take part in volunteer work during the scholarship period.
History
- 2022
MAP began the scholarship program with 20 million won donated by Good Samaritan's House. It selected people preparing for higher education (ages 18 to 29) and for vocational education (ages 14 to 29) and supported each with up to 2.5 million won for three months. Applications were many and the sponsorship grew, so there were 11 recipients this year.
- 2023
MAP ran three cohorts and raised the upper age limit for applicants from 29 to 39. Recipients were 1 youth and 10 young adults, and the year’s scholarship cases were published in a scholarship magazine. The scholarships went to university and graduate school fees (4 people), vocational skills development (3), Korean language institute fees (2), an exam fee (1) and private tutoring for a secondary school student (1).
- 2024
MAP ran four cohorts, from the 7th to the 10th, and selected 8 of 87 applicants. Because applications rose sharply, it linked applicants to outside scholarships such as the WeFriends scholarship project and the Industry-Academia Cooperation Foundation scholarship project. The 5 university students MAP recommended for the Industry-Academia Cooperation Foundation scholarship each received KRW 4 million for one semester's tuition and study expenses.
- 2025
MAP ran four cohorts, from the 11th to the 14th, and from the 11th cohort recruited for only one track, higher education or vocational education, in each cohort. Volunteers from the Refugee Youth Empowerment Scholarship (YES) team joined the project. For the 11th cohort, 19 people applied and 5 were selected for university tuition support.
- 2026
MAP is running four cohorts, from the 15th to the 18th. It held the 15th cohort’s award ceremony and orientation on February 10, and the notice for the 18th cohort is for recognized refugees, persons with humanitarian status, asylum seekers, and youth and young adults with a refugee background, and states the Korean language ability required.
Who it is for
- Higher education track: refugee youth and young adults aged 14 to 39 who are enrolled in or about to register at a university or graduate school (as of the 17th cohort, those enrolled in a university or graduate school, those about to register for the second semester of the 2026 academic year, or those who have received (preliminary) admission)
- Vocational education track: refugee youth and young adults aged 14 to 39. As of the 18th cohort, this includes recognized refugees, persons with humanitarian status, asylum seekers, and youth and young adults with a refugee background, and Korean ability is required in one of these forms: KIIP Level 3 or higher, TOPIK Level 2 or higher, or at least two years of attendance at a school taught in Korean.
- Selection criteria: vision, potential and need for support (as of the notices for cohorts 1 to 11)
How to apply
Apply through the Google Form in the recruitment notice for each cohort. Selection is by document screening followed by an individual interview.
- Emailyes@mapcast.org
- Main line02-2038-0231
In numbers
- KRW 2.5 million
- Maximum support per scholarship recipient for three months
- KRW 20 million
- Scholarship funds donated by Good Samaritan's House in 2022
- 4 people
- Recipients selected for the 15th cohort in 2026 (about to enter university)
- 2 people
- Recipients selected for the 16th cohort in 2026 (vocational education track)
- 10 people
- Recipients who took part in the volunteer and networking day on May 10, 2026
- 87 people
- Applicants to the 7th to 10th cohorts in 2024 (8 selected)
Cohorts
| Cohort | Period | Track |
|---|---|---|
| Cohort 18 | October 2026 to January 2027 | Vocational education |
| Cohort 17 | August to December 2026 | Higher education |
| Cohort 16 | May to July 2026 | Vocational education |
| Cohort 15 | February to June 2026 | Higher education |
| Cohort 14 | October 2025 to January 2026 | Vocational education |
| Cohort 13 | August to December 2025 | Higher education |
| Cohort 12 | May to July 2025 | Vocational education |
| Cohort 11 | February to April 2025 | Higher education |
| Cohort 10 | November 2024 to January 2025 | Higher education, vocational education |
| Cohort 9 | August to November 2024 | Higher education, vocational education |
| Cohort 8 | June to August 2024 | Higher education, vocational education |
| Cohort 7 | February to May 2024 | Higher education, vocational education |
| Cohort 6 | October to December 2023 | Higher education, vocational education |
| Cohort 5 | June to August 2023 | Higher education, vocational education |
| Cohort 4 | March to May 2023 | Higher education, vocational education |
| Cohort 3 | October to December 2022 | Higher education, vocational education |
| Cohort 2 | July to September 2022 | Higher education, vocational education |
| Cohort 1 | April to June 2022 | Higher education, vocational education |
Photos
Documents
Recent activities
[RISE] Recruiting 18th Cohort Good Samaritan Scholarship Recipients (Vocational Training)!
[RISE] Notice of Selection of 17th Cohort Good Samaritan Scholarship Recipients (Document Application Period ~June 22)
[MAP LETTER] April MAP LETTER
[MAP LETTER] May MAP LETTER
[RISE] Notice of Selection of 16th Cohort Good Samaritan Scholarship Recipients (Document Applications Extended to April 6)
[MAP LETTER] January and February MAP LETTER
[RISE] 15th Good Samaritan Scholarship (higher education): applications until 13 January
[RISE] Notice of Selection of 14th Cohort Good Samaritan Scholarship Recipients
