SEOUL, August 04 (AJP) - A new fellowship program will bring 30 Palestinian researchers to Seoul for doctoral study in artificial intelligence, with the entire course built around what they do after they go home.
Kookmin University's Industry-Academic Cooperation Foundation and its Global Development Cooperation Institute said Monday that they would run the AI Ph.D. Fellowship Program together with the Korea International Cooperation Agency. Fellows will enroll in doctoral courses at the university's AI and Software Graduate School, studying core AI technology alongside applications in industry and the public sector.
The program is the talent component of a $15 million South Korean aid project to strengthen research and development capacity for digital transformation in Palestine. Palestinian news agency Sada News reported that the project agreement was signed in August 2025 by the Palestinian ministries of planning and international cooperation and of education and higher education, and that the project runs through 2031.
The Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) is the grant aid arm of South Korea's foreign ministry. It has run education and vocational training programs in Palestine since 2009 and said in 2023 that it had spent $33.6 million on youth education there.
Research topics will be selected in connection with problems Palestine currently faces, so that findings can be applied to local problem-solving rather than sitting in a journal. KOICA and the university will manage the teaching and research process with that outcome in mind.
Fellows will take AI coursework, run joint research with South Korean teams, work on industry-academic projects, take internships, present at international conferences and go through technology commercialization programs. Kookmin University said the goal is to send them home with research ability, practical problem-solving skills, project planning and management experience, and a working international network.
The design is what separates the program from a standard scholarship, the university said. Most degree support ends at graduation. This one treats graduation as the midpoint. Fellows are expected to return to Palestine and work as the connective tissue between universities, research institutes and industry, pushing research results toward products, services and new companies.
"The AI Ph.D. Fellowship does not stop at giving talented Palestinians a chance to earn a degree," said Cho Hyun-kyu, who heads KOICA's Palestine office. "It lays the ground for them to lead research and development and digital transformation at home after they return. I hope South Korea's experience in AI research and education primes the pump for sustainable digital innovation in Palestine."
The program also feeds into Kookmin University's medium- and long-term plan, KMU VISION 2035: EDGE, adopted as the school marks its 80th anniversary. The university, founded in 1946, has named AI+X one of eight priority fields and is expanding teaching and research that combine AI with industry, health care, education and public services.
"The greatest strength of our AI and Software Graduate School is a curriculum centered on AX, or AI transformation, which does not confine AI to research or software implementation but extends it into real systems and industrial settings such as industrial innovation, health care, education and public services," said Lee Sang-hwan, a professor in Kookmin University's School of Software who is serving as project manager. "We will work to make sure the results of this program translate into better public services in Palestine, jobs for young people, industrial innovation and digital transformation."
A KOICA notice recruiting consultants for the parent project, posted in March 2025, listed analysis of plans to establish an AI research institute in Palestine among the assigned tasks. Kookmin University did not say when selection of the 30 fellows would begin.
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