PhD in Department of Chemical Engineering

Tuition fees are 10,344,000 KRW per year.

Chemical Engineering at Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH) is offered as a combined master's and doctoral program focused on the processes used to convert raw materials into useful products. The discipline applies principles of chemistry, physics, and mathematics to problems in reaction engineering, separation processes, fluid mechanics, and process design, with applications spanning petrochemicals, pharmaceuticals, food processing, and increasingly renewable energy and battery materials. Doctoral students typically complete advanced coursework in transport phenomena, thermodynamics, and reaction kinetics before conducting laboratory or process-modeling research that forms the basis of an original dissertation. Because chemical engineering underpins large parts of manufacturing industry, graduates often move into research and development roles at chemical, energy, and materials companies, as well as positions in process design, environmental engineering, and academic research. The field overlaps with materials science and biotechnology, so doctoral candidates frequently work on interdisciplinary projects involving new catalysts, polymers, or energy storage materials. Based in Nam-gu, South Korea, the coursework portion of the program runs four years, with intakes in the middle of February or the beginning of September. All coursework and research supervision are delivered in English, allowing international students to enter without a Korean-language requirement. The combined master's and doctorate format carries students from foundational graduate study directly into dissertation research, suiting applicants who hold an undergraduate background in chemical engineering or a related science and are prepared to commit to an extended, research-intensive program.