“But I don’t speak Korean.” A student from Dang said this to our counsellor last week, half as a confession, half hoping it ended the conversation so he could go back to planning for Australia.
It doesn’t end the conversation. You can study in Korea in English, genuinely, for a full degree, at universities that built entire programmes around it. Thousands of international students do exactly this every year.
But there is a second half to the answer, and the agencies that skip it are setting students up for a miserable first year. So here is the whole thing.
Where English-taught degrees genuinely exist
Not everywhere. This matters. Plenty of Korean universities advertise “English-friendly” programmes where, in practice, half the lectures drift into Korean by week three and the group projects run entirely in Korean. Students transfer out of these situations every year, at real cost.
The programmes that work are the ones designed as English-medium from the ground up. SolBridge International School of Business at Woosong University in Daejeon is the clearest example we work with: the entire business school runs in English, the faculty is international, and your classmates come from forty-plus countries, so English is the shared language in the corridor, not just the classroom. Woosong’s other international programmes in Daejeon follow a similar model. Sejong University in Seoul, our other direct partner, runs solid English-taught tracks as well, with the advantage and expense of a Seoul address.
For these programmes you prove English, not Korean, at admission. Requirements vary, some accept an IELTS score around 5.5–6.0, others run their own interview or accept strong +2 English marks, so confirm the current requirement for your exact programme before you plan a test date. For a Nepali student who wants to study in Korea in English without first spending a year in language school, this is the realistic door in.
Why basic Korean still decides your daily life
Now the second half.
Your degree is in English. Your life is not. The bus driver, the phone shop, the hospital reception, the ajumma who runs the kimbap place near campus, the immigration officer extending your visa: Korean, Korean, Korean, Korean, Korean.
Students who arrive with zero Korean survive. Campuses are used to internationals, and Daejeon and Seoul both have Nepali communities now, someone from Chitwan or Pokhara is usually one message away. But surviving and living are different things. The students who thrive are the ones who arrive with even TOPIK 1 level basics, can read Hangul (the script takes a weekend to learn, genuinely), and keep studying after arrival.
There is also a harder, more financial reason.
Part-time work runs on Korean
After your first semester, you can apply for a permit allowing part-time work, up to around 25 hours a week during term as of early 2026; confirm current rules before you count on the income. At Korean minimum wage, above ₩10,000 an hour, that is meaningful money for a Nepali student, often enough to cover food, transport, and phone with some left over.
Here is what nobody tells you: those jobs go to students who can take an order in Korean. A cafe in Daejeon is not hiring someone who cannot understand a customer. The English-only jobs, tutoring, some campus roles, exist but are few and taken quickly. Every semester of Korean you learn converts directly into earning power. We have watched this play out across hundreds of students: the ones who did three months of Korean classes in Kathmandu before flying start earning months earlier than the ones who didn’t.
A student from Butwal who joined SolBridge two years ago ignored our advice about learning basic Korean first, this is a story we now tell every applicant. His degree went fine from day one. But he spent his entire first year unable to find part-time work while his Vietnamese classmates, who had arrived with basic Korean, were earning from month seven. He caught up in year two after grinding through TOPIK 2. His summary, which we quote with his blessing: “The classroom was in English. The money was in Korean.”
TOPIK, in three paragraphs
TOPIK is the standard Korean proficiency test. TOPIK I covers levels 1–2, beginner territory. TOPIK II covers levels 3–6.
For English-taught admission you usually do not need it at all. But it still earns you things: some universities bump your admission scholarship, often in the 30–75% band, if you hold TOPIK 2 or 3, and higher levels open doors later, including for the D-10 job-seeker visa route and actual employment in Korea after graduation, where most employers expect TOPIK 4 or above.
The test is offered in Nepal a few times a year and seats fill fast, so register early. Treat TOPIK 2 as your realistic pre-departure target: achievable in three to six months of evening study while you finish your documents and NOC paperwork at Keshar Mahal, and worth real money on the other side.
So who should take the English-taught route
Students with good English and grades who want Korea’s costs and post-study options, the D-10 job-seeker visa after graduation is a real path, without committing to a Korean-medium degree they cannot yet follow. Families comparing against the UK and Australia will find the arithmetic friendly: tuition bands of roughly ₩4–7 million per semester before the admission scholarships most internationals receive, as of early 2026, with figures to confirm per university.
It is not for students who want to coast on English forever. Korea will meet you halfway, in the classroom. The other half is yours to learn, and the students who accept that early do better in every measurable way: friendships, earnings, and job offers.
Details on programmes, universities, and current intake deadlines are on our South Korea study page.
Before you decide anything expensive
If your plan is to study in Korea in English, the two questions that matter are: which programmes are genuinely English-medium, and does your profile fit their current requirements? Both change year to year, and both are exactly what a free counselling hour is for.
Start Education has partnered directly with Sejong University and Woosong University/SolBridge since well before Korea was fashionable, we have been at this since 2018, with 4,000+ students placed and offices in Putalisadak, Butwal, Banepa, and Ghorahi. Book a free session or call +977 01-4012658. Bring your +2 or bachelor’s transcripts, and we will tell you in one sitting which English-taught doors are open to you and what each one costs.