Posco TJ Park Foundation shifts focus to scholarships for STEM students

Home > National > K-campus

Posco TJ Park Foundation shifts focus to scholarships for STEM students

Published: 03 Oct. 2023, 15:00

LEE TAE-HEE
lee.taehee2@joongang.co.kr

Bang Mi-joung, executive director of Posco TJ Park Foundation, poses for a photo during an interview with the Korea JoongAng Daily. [PARK SANG-MOON]

Posco TJ Park Foundation is moving to offer more financial support for graduate students studying science and engineering, also aiming to help them with employment after graduation.

"Our Posco Asia Fellowship scholars are students who at least completed master's programs," Bang Mi-joung, the foundation's executive director, said. "They have high expectations for themselves, and [...] there could be opportunities for them to work at Posco companies."

The foundation's Posco Asia Fellowship offers two types of scholarships for international students.

One is the Scholarship for Asian Students Studying in Korea, which provides full tuition, monthly living expenses of 1 million won ($750) and additional settlement fees.

Students with bachelor's degrees planning to study science, technology, engineering and mathematics, or the STEM majors, at a Korean graduate school are eligible to apply.

Applications for the scholarship and designated graduate schools — Ewha Womans University, Hanyang University, KAIST, Korea University, Kyung Hee University, Postech, Seoul National University, Sungkyunkwan University and Yonsei University — are reviewed separately, meaning selected students must be accepted to one of those schools to receive the scholarship.

Eligibility for the Scholarship for Asian Students Studying in Korea [SCREEN CAPTURE]

As the name suggests, the opportunity is only for students of Asian nationality, which encompasses East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, Central Asia and West Asia.

"We, of course, look at their skill sets and their passion," Bang said. "But if there's one thing that we try to give more weight to, it is if the student can go back to their home country and continue to grow more."

Another scholarship of the program is the Scholarship for Asian Universities.

It's offered to international students studying at 20 overseas universities the foundation signed a memorandum of understanding with, such as Peking University, Vietnam National University's Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City campuses and the University of Indonesia.

Posco TJ Park Foundation's partner universities [SCREEN CAPTURE]

Given to undergraduates at those schools — although graduate school students at the University of Indonesia are an exception and can also apply — the scholarship gives them full rides.

Bang sat down with the Korea JoongAng Daily to talk about what qualities the foundation looks for in its scholars and what it aims to provide for its scholars.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Q. What qualities does the foundation prioritize when selecting students for the Posco Asia Fellowship?

A. Our goal is to aid students who can help their countries develop, so that's something we take into account. For example, rather than selecting students who are interested in Korea due to things like K-pop, we look for students who are passionate about becoming professors and teaching students back in their home country.

Why did the foundation decide to offer scholarships to only students of Asian nationality, and would it be willing to provide scholarships to students from other countries in the future?

When we started the scholarship program in 2005, there was a growing interest in corporate social responsibility in a global context. The countries that need help are those in Asia and Africa, and we decided on Asian countries because they are geographically close and because a lot of Posco subsidiaries are in Asian countries.

In 2005, Posco's business was centered around steel, mostly in the Asian region. But now, we are shifting toward the energy business, even building lithium plants in Argentina. So we've been giving scholarships to students in Argentina locally. Like that, our policies may or may not gradually change.

Starting this year, Posco Asia Fellowship only recruits STEM students. What was the reason behind the change?

We used to not limit applicants based on the fields they would study, whether STEM or liberal arts. But we recently changed our policy.

In the past, Posco TJ Park Foundation was one of the few foundations that offered scholarships for international students. But now, you have the Global Korea Scholarship selecting thousands of students, and other foundations are also creating scholarships for international students.

We made the change after thinking about what type of students would be most beneficial for their home countries. We also thought it would be better to focus on areas that Posco companies specialize in. So we ran a separate trial program for students in STEM last year and decided to make the change for the fellowship this year.

In 2021, the foundation offered internships to international students receiving its scholarships. Do you have plans to arrange similar programs?

We heard that international students want to experience what Korean companies are like. There are also things we can learn when we're working closely with our scholars, so the interns worked with us for around three months. They were students from Vietnam and Indonesia, and we asked them to come up with ideas to attract more talented scholars from those countries. We were accepting applications for the Asia Fellowship back then, so they also responded to inquiries from applicants.

We're actually considering setting up regular employment opportunities for our scholars in the future. On the company's side, we're thinking of hiring our scholars for Posco's overseas offices.

This was the first year the foundation hosted a joint scholarship ceremony between international and Korean scholars. Are there plans to create more networking opportunities for them?

It was the first time we had a joint scholarship award ceremony with both Korean scholars and our international students, but we had in the past various other activities they participated in together as a group.

This is the third year we've hosted joint seminars with Germany's Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom, which our international and Korean students receiving the Posco Vision Scholarship attend together. We also have field trips that Korean and international students go on together.

We're also thinking of inviting those receiving the Posco Science Fellowship, which funds professors in STEM, to the joint scholarship award ceremony as well.

We try to bring them together because it's important for international students to build networks here in Korea. A lot of the students who receive our scholarship come from STEM fields and are pursuing graduate degrees, so we try to connect them with research committees the Science Fellow professors are part of. We do our best to help our scholars grow academically and offer them more opportunities.

After graduation, do the scholars stay in Korea or return to their home country?

Based on our data, it's mostly half and half. When we first created the program, we wanted to select and help students who were willing to learn here and return to their country. But society is changing. Some say it's ideal to encourage talented foreigners to stay in Korea amid Korea's low birth rate. We're also considering those things and thinking about whether we need to change our policies.

Where do Posco Asia Fellowship alums go after graduation?

We see a lot of master's students stay in school to pursue doctorate degrees. But overall, there are a lot of students who complete their doctorate and become professors abroad. We have some working at government organizations, in media and at conglomerates in their home country.

BY LEE TAE-HEE [lee.taehee2@joongang.co.kr]