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KAIST introduces hiking scholarship to promote student health

Published: 12 Dec. 2025, 10:39

LEE TAE-HEE
[email protected]

The KAIST campus in Yuseong District, Daejeon [KAIST]

While it may seem like university students should be tied to their desks studying, KAIST announced Friday that it created a hiking scholarship to encourage student health.

KAIST received a donation of 500 million won ($339,000) in the form of a principal-protected fund from Kwon Jun-ha, chairman of the Shin Iksan Freight Terminal, which it will use for the scholarship. The university will hold a donation ceremony on Friday at its Dogok Campus in Gangnam District, southern Seoul.

The scholarship will be called the Misan Scholarship, with Misan coming from the pen name of Kwon's father.

The scholarship will be operated solely from returns generated from the fund. The university expects the fund to generate around 100 million won in profits each year.

Kwon Jun-ha, chairman of the Shin Iksan Freight Terminal [KAIST]

According to KAIST, it created the hiking scholarship to help students who experience intensive academic and research workloads regularly engage in physical activity and feel a sense of achievement.

To become eligible for the scholarship, students will have to complete courses using hiking verification apps designated by KAIST. Students who complete four to six hiking courses a year will receive a scholarship of 300,000 won, and those who complete seven courses or more will receive 700,000 won.

The university expects to provide hiking scholarships to around 150 students per year.

"We thank Chairman Kwon for helping KAIST create a sustainable scholarship model by donating in the form of a principal-protected fund," said Lee Kwang-hyung, president of KAIST. "The scholarship will help students challenge themselves and grow academically, as well as become healthier as they hike regularly."

BY LEE TAE-HEE [[email protected]]