Seoul National University will offer scholarships and benefits to foreign students in an effort to foster Korea-friendly human resources, the school said Sunday.

Some 332 undergraduate and graduate students have been selected and will study at the university from the second semester starting in September, it said. Of them, 73 are undergraduates, 188 graduates, and 71 doctoral students.

They are mostly from developing nations including Vietnam, China and Mongolia, with Chinese taking up the most spots.

The special scholarship program is part of a 24 billion won project to grow SNU into a globally leading research institution. To nurture future leaders of developing countries, it will spend more than 4 billion won in just scholarships to foreign students.

A recipient will be given up to 25 million won in scholarships, including tuition fees, living expenses and airfare.

“The university has allotted a large budget for promoting the program and picking excellent students. We expect more students to apply for it for the next term.” SNU officials said.

The admission process for the first term in 2013 will start from early September.

The College of Engineering at the university said earlier that it would take trips around universities in Asian nations such as the Harbin Institute of Technology in China and the Mongolian University of Science and Technology in Mongolia to attract foreign students.

The college has struggled to attract new students during the past five years. There have been just 1.41 applicants per place during that period. 

By Kim Young-won (wone0102@heraldcorp.com)