Exploring Global Korea Scholarship as a Public Diplomacy Tool

Abstract

Through international student mobility programs, such as Global Korea Scholarship (GKS), countries aim to influence international students’ beliefs about and attitudes toward the host country. In this article, we explore GKS’s role in bringing international students to the country and analyze changes in GKS students’ and alumni’s affective and cognitive evaluation of Korea after coming to the country. We compare results based on students’ and alumni’s length of stay, gender, and economic development level of their home country. Our findings suggest that after coming to Korea, GKS recipients evaluate Korea more positively in both affective and cognitive dimensions.