UST New Applicant Numbers Rise for 4 Consecutive Years...Record High of 877 Applicants

Up 9.4% From the Previous Year
Admission Quota to Expand to 430 Students Starting in 2027

The number of new applicants to the University of Science and Technology (UST) has increased for four consecutive years, reaching an all-time high. Given the rising number of applicants and the demand from government-funded research institutes to recruit students, UST will increase its annual admission quota to 430 students starting with the 2027 academic year.

On September 30, UST announced that the number of new applicants for the regular admission track for domestic students for the 2026 academic year reached 877. This marks a 9.4% increase from the previous record of 802 applicants for the 2025 academic year.

UST headquarters exterior. Provided by UST

The number of applicants has risen for four consecutive years since the 2022 academic year. Compared to 2022, the 2026 applicant total has doubled, representing a 100.7% increase over four years. UST has also maintained a 100% freshman enrollment rate for four straight years since 2023.

UST operates differently from general universities. Instead of running a separate single campus, UST utilizes 30 national research institutes nationwide — including institutions such as the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) and Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) — as its graduate school campuses. Researchers from these institutes serve as faculty members, and students conduct research and pursue their master's or doctoral studies in actual research and development settings. UST is described as a 'national research institute university.'

UST will expand its annual freshman quota by about 10%, from the current 390 to 430 students starting in the 2027 academic year, taking into consideration the growing number of applicants and increased demand from government-funded research institutes. The quota, which was 300 until the 2024 academic year, was increased to 390 last year and will be raised again. This represents an increase of 130 students, or 43%, over three years.

The level of awareness of UST among science and engineering undergraduates is still not high. According to the "2025 UST Science and Engineering University Awareness Survey," conducted among 1,512 science and engineering undergraduates from 50 major universities, only 34.1% responded that they were 'somewhat familiar' or more with UST.

UST has cited its employment record, research achievements, and scholarship support as reasons for the increase in applicants. According to UST, the employment rate among its graduates stands at 94.6%, with about 10% securing full-time researcher positions at 29 government-funded research institutes.

As of the latter half of the 2026 academic year, 50.6% of doctoral graduates published papers as first authors in journals ranked within the top 10% by the Journal Citation Reports (JCR) while enrolled.

All enrolled students receive a full tuition waiver of 2.5 million KRW per semester. Doctoral students receive a minimum research incentive of 1.9 million KRW per month, while master's students receive at least 1.43 million KRW per month. UST also offers scholarships in national strategic technology fields including AI, quantum science, advanced biotechnology, and advanced robotics, as well as overseas training and international academic presentation support programs.

UST President Kang Daeim stated, "We will work to expand the student quota, enhance education quality, and strengthen scholarships so that more students can study at the national research institute university and grow into world-class talent."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.