Admission for international students

This page is for international students. 

• Admission for international students
  • Eligibility
  • For Prospective Graduate Students (Master, Master/Ph.D combined, Ph.D. programs)
    • Part 1 - Online application
    • Part 2 - Document Submission to be sent physically to the admission office
  • Material Description
    • Statement of Purpose
    • List of up to 3 possible supervisors
    • Portfolio of previous work
    • Statement of Financial Resources
    • More info

Eligibility

• For Master’s Degree Program Applicants hold or expect to hold a bachelor’s degree before enrollment at KAIST.
• For Doctoral Degree Program Applicants hold or expect to hold a bachelor’s and master’s degree before enrollment at KAIST
• Applicants who are not a citizen of Korea / International applicants of Korean ethnicity needs to satisfy the following criteria.

For Prospective Graduate Students (Master, Master/Ph.D combined, Ph.D. programs)

Prospective graduate students apply directly to the department of interest. The full documentation of the documents to be submitted can be found here. Make however sure to submit all the documents listed below.

Part 1 - Online application

• Fill out the online application.
• The Statement of Purpose (see also material description below) is part of this online application.
• Print out your online application form for your reference.
• Application Fee (USD 80 or KRW 80,000)

Part 2 - Document Submission to be sent physically to the admission office

Graduate Admission Team, KAIST Address: # 110, 1st Floor, E 16-1 B/D291 Daehak-ro, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon 34141 Republic of Korea, Graduate Admissions Team, KAIST Office: +82-42-350-2352, 2354 E-Mail: advanced.adm@kaist.ac.kr

1. Document Checklist
2. Printed application form (see Part 1 above)
3. Statement of Financial Resources (see also material description below)
4. Two Recommendation Letters
5. Certified Degree / Diploma
6. Certified Transcripts
7. Certified English Proficiency Test Reports
8. Curriculum Vitae
9. Identity documents (applicant's)
10. Identity documents (parents')
11. Family Relation Certificate

B. MANDATORY FOR INDUSTRIAL DESIGN DEPARTMENT

1. List of up to 3 possible supervisors
2. Portfolio of previous work (see also material description below)

C. OPTIONAL

1. List of Honors and Awards
2. Employment Certificate
3. School Profile/ Credit Rating System

Material Description

Statement of Purpose

In the online application, you have a chance to write a statement of purpose. Write down a detailed and accurate statement of your purpose and objective in pursuing your study at KAIST.

Please try to answer briefly the following questions

• What you studied at your previous institution
• Motivation for applying for the major
• Motivation applying under supervision of XYZ professor/s
• Brief study plan
• Future plan after study
• Honors and awards, major accomplishments
• Introduction of the institution you previously attended

List of up to 3 possible supervisors

You should clearly indicate in your application up to 3 faculty members you would like to work with. Once granted acceptance, you will work in one of these professors' labs, so please make sure to visit our faculty's lab websites. We also encourage you to contact the professors you would like to work with or lab representatives in advance. This list can be submitted as a separate file, or the names of the possible advisors should be included in the statement of purpose.

Portfolio of previous work

The portfolio is an extremely important part of your application to the department of Industrial Design: it allows faculty and prospective supervisors to judge your capabilities and fit with current labs.

The portfolio should contain some examples of your previous work or projects, and it can be submitted as a physical printed document, or, preferably, as a link to a personal webpage.

The portfolio can contain (but is not limited to) visual expressions, PowerPoint slides, art or artifacts, videos, business cases reports, code, online repositories, etc... or any other form of media that could communicate your capabilities, interest, and potential.

Statement of Financial Resources

Indicate your source of funding:

1. Self-support or Parental Sponsor
2. Government/Organization Scholarship
3. KAIST Scholarship

More info

For more information about any other item on the list, please refer to the following guidelines.

KAIST is a research-oriented university, meaning that graduate students at IDKAIST are both students and researchers. They take classes as well as work full time at their lab performing research with the help of their advisors and colleagues. Initially, academics make up a greater portion, but research for their own dissertations and industrial/government projects will gradually take up a greater part of their learning at IDKAST. They sometimes stay at the labs carrying out their research duties, especially when their degree topics are aligned to the projects. Students are motivated to invest their extra time.

Master’s students need to take courses as follows:

- At least one general required course (3 credit) among followings:

Scientific Writing, Introduction to Computer Application, Probability and Statistics, Industrial Economics and Cost Analytics, Patent Analysis and Invention Disclosure, Collaborative System Design and Engineering

- Two required major courses (6 credits)

Design Project I, Research Methodology

- Four elective major courses (12 credits)

User-Centered Design Methodology, Media Interaction Design, Digital Design Fabrication, and Design Issues

Students may consult with their advisors to take courses offered by other departments. Examples of courses offered at other departments that Industrial Design students have taken include HCI (School of Computing), Interactive Computer Graphics (School of Computing), and Mobile Pervasive Computing (School of Knowledge Service Engineering). 

Ÿ PhD students need to take at least 27 selective credits including Design Research Issues. 

Learning at a research focused graduate program takes place not just in class but also in the process of performing research for contract projects and dissertations. A wide range of unique research traversing the boundaries of science and design is being conducted at our labs. There are currently 10 labs led by 10 professors at IDKAIST.

Visit the website of each lab to learn more about their publications, exhibitions, products, and other kinds of research output. 

[Click here to find more details about research areas and labs]

There are currently 14 professors at the Department of Industrial Design, including two emeritus professors and one research professor.

Tenure track professors

Nam, Tek-Jin (Head of Department) / Lee, Woohun / Bae, Sang-Min / Nam, Ki-Young / Bae, Seok-Hyung / Lim, Youn-kyung / Suk, Hyeon-Jeong / Saakes, Daniel / Bianchi, Andrea / Lee, Sangsu / Lee / Hong, Hwajung / Lee, Tak Yeon / Lee, Chang Hee / Park, Hyunjoon

Emeritus professors

Kim, Myung-Suk / Chung, Kyung-Won / Lee, Kun-pyo (leave of absence)

Master's graduates go on to design roles or research roles related to design. They may develop new products with consideration for user experience or conduct trend research or user research for design development at large IT companies, startups, and design firms. PhD graduates pursue their design career in industries, academia, research organizations, and public institutions. The specific field varies widely depending on the topic of PhD research.

Currently, most of our PhD graduates work in new product development or user experience research at large companies or help bridge design education and research at universities. Some graduates are in charge of design review at public institutions such as the Korean Intellectual Property Office or perform human centered design research at IT research institutes. Others have gone on to become CEOs or CDRs at startups

IDKAIST welcomes those who have majored in engineering fields such as Computer Science, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Industrial Science, and Human Engineering. Applicants who combine an understanding of design with fundamental engineering knowledge have the potential to become outstanding graduate students. Such applicants would have to prepare application documents and interviews that display their expertise in their original majors, as well as their goals and plans for interdisciplinary design research. ​

IDKAIST welcomes applicants with not only skills related to the final product of design such as product development, visual media, spatial systems, etc., but also those related to the value provided by design such as visual communication, user experience, and services. Applicants with a background in design can combine their knowledge with systematic research methodology and new technologies to create synergy. Such applicants would also have to prepare application documents and interviews that display their expertise in their original majors, as well as their goals and plans for interdisciplinary design research. ​

Having an engineering background could be helpful in one aspect. However, in principle, IDKAIST does appreciate diverse expertise from different disciplines. Almost every year, we have graduate students who majored neither design nor engineering, but show their excellence in both courses and research achievement. If you plan to take technology-intensive courses, then you need to put extra efforts just because it is new to you.

For MS candidates, the Department offers new students introductory presentations and tours of all research labs before the first semester. Based on the information collected from the orientation, students apply to a few labs in prioritized order. Individual interviews with professors proceed after the applications. Department discusses the best matches and announce the result to students. 

Ph.D. applicants assign their potential supervisors in application forms. The accepted applicants are matched to the supervisors in most cases, but those who have not yet decided for supervisor specifically still can apply. In this case, the Head of Department should be an advisor tentatively. Based on the applicant’s research interest, the actual supervisor will be searched and matched after the admission. 

For general inquiries regarding the overall admissions process, schedule, and document submission, please contact the Graduate School Admissions Team at the Office of Admissions (042-350-2351, advanced.adm@kaist.ac.kr).

※ Please refer to the KAIST graduate school admissions website for details regarding the application schedule and document submissions. https://admission.kaist.ac.kr/graduate/. For international students, please visit https://admission.kaist.ac.kr/intl-graduate/

For information about the department, professors, labs as well as the interview procedure and schedule (for applicants with successful document reviews), please contact the IDKAIST (042-350-4503, sesedolee@kaist.ac.kr).

Regarding the Ph.D. admissions, documents are submitted with a potential supervisor assigned specifically. For this, applicants are highly recommended to contact with professors who may supervise your Ph.D. study. Alternatively, the applicant can assign the Head of the Department for the submission and find the supervisor after the admission. Please refer to Q.4 to find your future supervisor, “Who are the professors at IDKAIST?”. Good luck!