POSTECH is famous for providing many benefits to students. All students can receive a scholarship if they keep a 3.0 G.P.A. In addition to the scholarship, there are many programs for students in POSTECH. To learn more about the budget and programs available for students, The Postech Times interviewed Kim Jung Ki, the team leader of Undergraduate Student Affairs. In 2015, POSTEH budgets about 4.4 billion KRW for students. Programs for students can be divided into three parts. One part is program for supporting students’ activities and the second one provides dormitory service and cultural experience programs to Postechians. The last one is the program for scholarship, research, career, and employment.
In the first part, to support students’ activities, POSTECH makes up a budget for many kinds of events such as POSTECH-KAIST Science War, Passion of Pohang (POP), orientation for freshmen and Sunrise Festival. In these events, POSTECH helps students to keep events going well. This also includes the budget for club activities and student governments. Additionally, there is a support for special student activities, including Kim Wook’s Special Meal Day and POTECH Honor Society.
In the second part, there is much money for the residential college (RC) and the POSTECH Cultural Program, about 113 and 125 million KRW for each. Especially, the Nanse Gum Music Festival & Academy is opened based on the support from KISWIRE LTD. POSTECH Orchestra and Culture Inquiry Program receives about 25 million KRW in support. POSTECH has a special dormitory system, RC for freshmen and sophomores. In RC, there are many programs such as special lectures, volunteer service, student consultations, etc. and all of them are covered in the school budget.
The third part is for scholarship, research, career and employment. The scholarship is the largest service for students in POSTECH. About 3.9 billion KRW is used for scholarships. There are various kinds of scholarship, Jigok Scholarship, State Scholarship, etc. The State Scholarship gathers about 3.7 billion KRW. The Student Mentoring Program (SMP) is a program in which seniors teach juniors a specific subject. The number of mentors and mentees is increasing every year, and mentors receive 250,000 KRW a month. The Undergraduate Research Program (URP) and the Presidential Research Program encourages students to research.
There are many benefits for students in POSTECH. In fact, all facilities, environments and even paved street in POSTECH are benefits. Nevertheless, the main benefit that students directly feel is scholarship. All students know that they receive many benefits from POSTECH unconsciously. If the budget of specific program is reduced, students tend to think the university has a difficulty. However, even if there is a slight decrease in support, it is true that POSTECH provides many benefits to all students. POSTECH is very generous school.