A nonprofit organization founded by SK Group has awarded a scholarship to its 3,000th student this year, SK officials said.

According to the officials, the scholarship program has financially supported a total of 3,059 students as of July 29.

The program is promoted by the Korea Foundation for Advanced Studies, a non-profit organization established in 1974 with the aim of fostering talented scholars.

SK Group founder and late chairman Chey Jong-hyun created the foundation to materialize his vision of fostering high-caliber human resources. According to a report from the conglomerate, the late chairman said, “I had spent 80 percent of my life finding talented people and fostering their abilities.”

The former chairman used to encourage the scholarship recipients by inviting them to dinner parties at his house before they went to study abroad, according to the company.

The current group chairman Chey Tae-won has succeeded his father’s legacy as he hosts “Homecoming Day” every year for scholarship beneficiaries studying abroad.

According to the company report, out of the 3,059 scholarship beneficiaries, 1,664 students are in either graduate school or working as researchers in universities or institutes at home, and 1,395 students are studying abroad.

Past KFAS scholarship beneficiaries include Harvard University professor Park Hong-kun, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign professor Ha Taek-jip, Yale University professor Chun Myung-woo and Korea University professor Yeom Jae-ho, all of whom have become well reputed in their respective fields of study.

“I majored in chemistry and received the scholarship from KFAS during my junior and senior years at Seoul National University. It was a big help at the time,” Hyeon Taeg-hwan, SNU professor of chemical and biological engineering, told The Korea Herald.

Since 2000, KFAS has broadened the program to include students from China and other Asian countries, supporting international academic forums and related activities.

The foundation invites around 40 scholars from around Asia to South Korea annually and funds their research for a year.

Recently, KFAS invited 42 scholars from Peking University, Renmin University of China, Fudan University and others to an international academic forum in Seoul to mark the 20th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Korea and China.

“KFAS, which started as one of SK Group’s social contributions, now has become a hub for Asia’s research network, extending from its primary job of fostering domestic talent,” said Lee Man-woo, senior vice president at SK Holdings’ Brand Management Office.

By Lee Jin-yung, Intern reporter (jinylee@usc.edu)