2026 DUO-Korea Fellowship Programme
<Contents>
1. General Description
2. Application and Selection Procedure
3. Instructions for DUO-Korea Application Form
1. General Description
CAUTION: If any application falls under the following 4 cases, the application is disqualified
and will not be considered for selection. If such cases are found after the selection, the
Secretariat may still reserve the right to cancel the fellowship of both Korean/European
students and request the reimbursement of the fellowship in full. Therefore, the contact
persons of the institutions should carefully confirm that the applications do not fall under
the following 4 cases.
Case 1. The transfer of credits is less than the minimum requirements (10 credits /
20 ECTS) *The language training or sports courses are NOT counted
Case 2. GPA/ECTS written on the application are different from those transcripts
Case 3. During the application period (2026 spring term), the Korean student does
not stay in Korea or the European student does not stay in Europe (leave of absence
is allowed)
Case 4. If applicants have another source of finance from other government or
institutions (※Please refer to FAQ Q16)
DUO-Korea Fellowship Programme was established in 2001 with the aim of promoting
exchanges of people between Korea and 30 ASEM European countries on a balanced and
permanent basis. In this respect, DUO-Korea requires that a PAIR (two persons) of students
be exchanged in the framework of a cooperative project.
Definitions of students are as below:
Undergraduate(bachelor) and Graduate(master) students who are currently enrolled in
institutions in Korea or one of the 30 ASEM European countries
N.B.: All applicants shall maintain their “student status” at the time of application until
the time they are engaged in exchange projects. A student who has already started the
exchange before the application period is not eligible.
[30 ASEM European member countries]
Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland,
France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta,
Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden,
Switzerland, the U.K.
1.1. Eligibility
Due to the unique nature of this program, the followings are required to be eligible:
Your exchange project fulfills all four requirements below:
1) A Korean institution and an European institution have established an academic
cooperative agreement;
2) The Korean institution has selected a Korean national student enrolled at the Korean
institution to send to the European institution, and such selection has been accepted
by the European institution;
3) The same European institution has selected an ASEM European national student
enrolled at the European institution to send to the Korean institution, and such
selection has been accepted by the same Korean institution.
4) If the Korean student who has already started the exchange outside Korea, or the
European student who has already started the exchange outside the ASEM European
region during the application period (2026 spring term), they are not eligible.
1.2. Duration and Funding
DUO-Korea 2026 is for exchange projects, which will start from August 2026 and end
before August 2027 to avoid duplication of implementation period of exchange projects
selected by DUO-Korea in the ensuing years.
The selection of DUO-Korea 2026 is made ONLY once a year. In this respect, those who are
planning to exchange in Spring Semester of 2027 (January-July 2027) shall apply for DUO-
Korea 2026.
The duration and the amount of the fellowships are standardized as follows:
1 semester (or four months) for an amount of 8,000 Euro for both students in a
pair (4,000 Euro each).
Maximum duration for application is 1 semester (4 months, 120days).
The exchange duration should be at least one semester. Exchange of less than one
semester is NOT allowed. If a semester or stay period in the Korean/European institutions
is longer than 4 months, the fellowship will be given for 4 months. If it is less than 4
months, the fellowship will be adjusted on a pro-rata basis.
2. Application and Selection Procedure
2.1. Application Period
Applications will be accepted from April 3(Fri) to May 20(Wed), 2026 Korean local time.
Applications submitted after May 20(Wed), 2026 will not be accepted.
2.2. Who Applies?
The educational institutions in Korea apply on behalf of two institutions. European
institutions in partnership with Korean institutions shall cooperate fully with them in
providing precise information of European applicants. Individuals wishing to apply are
advised to contact the relevant offices ONLY (e.g. International Relations Offices) of the
institutions to file an application for this program.
Professors or lecturers cannot be the contact persons for DUO-Korea. ONLY a staff of the
relevant office (e.g. International Relations Offices) can be the contact person.
2.3. Documents for Submission
*All documents listed below should be written in English. In regard to writing the
application, please refer to 3. Instructions for DUO-Korea Application Form in the
following context or the DUO-Korea FAQ.
1. An Online Application
2. A copy of Cooperation Agreement (or Memorandum of Understanding for cooperation)
between paired institutions OR declaration of intention to set up new cooperation
agreement (ONLY valid one).
3. A copy of Valid Passport of paired applicants
*A copy of National Registration Card (Korean) or a Citizen Card (European) also
allowed, but a permanent residency card is not acceptable.
4. A copy of Official Transcript of paired applicants (issued on or after March 1, 2026)
5. A Motivation Letter of paired applicants (max. A4 1 page, except for the cover page)
*You may find the Motivation Letter Forms from the ASEM-DUO website using the link;
https://asemduo.org/03_forms/forms_01.php
2.4. Application Submission
1. Enter your ID and password on the LOGIN page to fill out an online application.
※ Click JOIN US button to get an ID.
The ID only will be given to the contact person of the Korean Institution. If you don’t
find the name of your institution, please contact the Secretariat to add your institution to
the list. One institution will have ONLY ONE ID and there should be ONLY one contact
2. Korean institutions need to fill out the whole online application including the
information of European institutions.
3. The rest of the documents (cooperation agreement, passport copies, official transcripts
and motivation letters) can be uploaded in the step 5 of the application process.
4. Once completed, please make sure to submit your application by clicking the “submit”
button. Korean institutions should get a confirmation email within 3 days after
submission. If not, please contact the Secretariat via email.
2.5. Selection Method
A Korean Selection Committee, comprising Korean experts in the field of educational
exchange, will make the selection after the application deadline. The decision will be
announced by June 2026.
The selection results will be notified on the ASEM-DUO website, and the Secretariat will
ONLY directly inform the selected awardees and their contact persons with the hard
copies of the notification of selection results. The form for awardees such as Letter of
Acceptance could be downloaded at the banner of Forms on the ASEM-DUO website
(www.asemduo.org).
2.6. Selection Criteria
New Exchange Projects which have not been selected until DUO-Korea 2025 shall be given
priority in selection. Besides, the followings will be considered for selection;
1. Motivation letters
2. Courses to take in Korean/European institutions
3. Recommendation of institutions
4. GPA
5. Source of Finance
person in the same Korean institution.
2.7. Fellowship Grants
The DUO-Korea Fellowship will be transferred directly to awardees by Secretariat.
There are no restrictions in using the fellowship. It can finance the tuition, and living or
travel expenses.
3. Instructions for DUO-Korea Application Form
3.1. Language of Application
You should write your application in English.
3.2. How to write the Application Form
*Please note that more detailed guidelines are available in the FAQ (English version) for
each section.
1) STEP 1. – Korean Institution
The first box of ID number and Date of submission will be given after submission.
Please note that the contact person information for Korean institutions is automatically
set by the login information. If necessary, please update the information in the Update
Account section.
Contact person means a regular staff of Korean institutions who arranges the
exchange projects and is willing to communicate with the Secretariat in such
events as verifying application details, monitoring exchanges and providing further
information on the status of the exchange.
Person of Exchange shall be any Korean national students who will participate in
the exchange.
Level of Study means currently enrolled degree level as of spring semester of 2026.
GPA means a grade which a Korean student has earned up to the most recent
semester. *Please refer to FAQ 19 for further details.
In a box for Enrollment Status, please check it as of the spring semester of 2026, in
case of leave of absence, please specify the reason and current residence country.
In a box for Institutional criteria, please describe why you (or your institution)
recommend the person of exchange for fellowship in detail.
2) STEP 2. – European Institution
Please, provide information on the European institution involved in the exchange
project.
*If your partner European Institution is not included, the contact person of the Korean
Institution may contact the Secretariat to add the partner institution to the list.
Contact person means a regular staff of European institutions who arranges the
exchange project and is willing to communicate with the Secretariat in such events
as verifying application details, monitoring exchange and providing further
information on the status of the exchange.
Person of Exchange shall be any ASEM European national students who will
participate in the exchange.
Level of Study means currently enrolled degree level as of spring semester of 2026.
ECTS means a whole ECTS that a European student has earned up to the most recent
semester. *Please refer to FAQ 19 for further details.
In a box for Enrollment Status, please check it as of the spring semester of 2026, in
case of leave of absence, please specify the reason and current residence country.
In a box for Institutional criteria, please describe why you (or your institution)
recommend the person of exchange for fellowship in detail.
Confirmation of Agreement with the European institution (TO BE SIGNED by the
contact person at the Korean institution): he/she should confirm here by clicking on
the “YES” button if the contact person in the European institution also agrees with
this submission.
3) STEP 3. – Description of Exchange Program
In this section, please describe the type, duration and purpose of exchange as
instructed on the form.
Type of exchange
If the status of the person of exchange changes from undergraduate to graduate
(master) prior to the start of the exchange semester, please check the “others” and
specify in detail.
Duration of Exchange
Please write the exchange duration on one semester basis (between 120 and 180
days) in accordance with the academic calendars of the destination institution. If the
semester period is shorter than 4 months (120 days), please check the “others” and
specify in detail.
If a person of exchange will engage in the exchange for the whole year, please
choose one semester (2026 fall or 2027 spring) would like to apply for DUO-Korea
2026.
Purpose of Exchange
Please check the purpose of the exchange is and fill in how many credits/ECTS will
be completed at the destination institution.
If your purpose of the exchange is other than the Transfer of Credits, please specify
in detail.
4) STEP 4. – Exchange Details/ Source of Finance
Exchange Details
Person of exchange needs to fill in the courses which will be taken during their
exchange period. As the minimum requirement for eligibility is 10 credits/20
ECTS on a semester basis, if you write less than the minimum requirement, then
your application would not qualify for selection.
CAUTION: Person of Exchanges need to complete all courses as written on the
application. If actual courses happen to differ from the courses listed on the
application, the contact person or persons of exchange are responsible for informing
the Secretariat for approval; if this procedure is not taken beforehand, fellowship
award is subject to cancellation or consequent reimbursement. Also, intensive
language courses and sports courses are not honored in this program.
Source of Finance
-If this exchange project has any other source of finance, or if you are planning to
apply, please specify in detail such as Name of Fellowship, Name of organization,
Amount, Purpose of the fellowship, and Announcement period, etc.
<Fellowship that will be considered as double-funding>
1) Korean Government Fellowship (ex. GKS Fellowship, etc)
2) The Fellowship in the name of the exchange support which provides a
corresponding amount of DUO-Korea (over 500 Euro/month) by other
governments or private institutions (ex. Mirae Asset Fellowship, Erasmus+,
etc)
<Fellowship that will NOT be considered as double-funding>
1) Any Fellowship provided by originating/destination institutions for the
exchange program
2) Any kind of Academic & Tuition Fellowship, Fellowship for low-income
family background support, or Repayable loans Fellowship
*Please be informed that even though we allow the above fellowship, if the respective
institution does not allow double funding, you may follow their regulation.
5) STEP 5. – Certification of Authenticity
A copy of cooperation agreement, passport copies, official transcripts, and motivation
letters of paired applicants should be attached.
All documents should be submitted in English version. If there is no official
English version of each document, applicants need to submit translated version
along with the original document.
The preferred file formats are JPG. or PDF. Please set the name of the
attachment files as a Name of document_Given name_Surname order (e.g.
Passport_John_Smith).
After completing all relevant items in an appropriate manner on the application, please
write the date and the names of the contact person of the Korean institution and the
president or Director of the Korean institution in the section of Certification of
Authenticity. And then, please submit it to the Secretariat by clicking the “submit”
button.
The original version including the signatures and official stamp of the Korean
Institution will be requested, only if your exchange project has been selected.
3.3. After the Submission: Acknowledgement
The acknowledgment of submission will be sent to the contact person in the Korean
institutions via e-mail within 3 working days after submission.
If the application is approved, the ID number will be given to each application and the
contact persons of Korean institutions can print it as the PDF version.
However, if there is any application with incomplete or improper information, the
Secretariat will request further information through the contact persons of Korean
institutions individually. And you need to submit the revised application through the
online system again within 48 hours. If we do not receive the revised one within 48 hours,
we regard it as a notice of abandonment.
