Grad Student Recruitment Report — 2026 H2
Confirmed recruiting labs by field and university — as of July 12, 2026
524Confirmed recruiting labs (Korea)
9,123Labs listed (KR 5,950 · Intl 3,173)
53Universities (9 countries)
371Departments
Recruiting labs by field
A lab can span multiple fields, so the sum exceeds 524.
AI & Machine Learning176
Materials123
Energy90
Bio & Medical89
Semiconductors & Circuits71
Nano51
Chemistry48
Software & Systems45
Networks & Communication44
Robotics38
Physics38
Sensors & MEMS36
Optics & Photonics33
Thermal & Fluids26
Top 10 universities by recruiting labs
KAIST173
Korea University64
UNIST39
Yonsei University27
Sungkyunkwan University26
Hanyang University19
Kyung Hee University19
Chungnam National University17
Kangwon National University15
Chonnam National University14
Top 10 departments by recruiting labs
| # | Department | Recruiting |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | KAIST · Electrical Engineering | 41 |
| 2 | Korea Univ. · Computer Science | 23 |
| 3 | KAIST · Mechanical Engineering | 21 |
| 4 | Korea Univ. · Electrical Engineering | 21 |
| 5 | Yonsei Univ. · Computer Science | 17 |
| 6 | KAIST · School of Computing | 17 |
| 7 | SKKU · Mechanical Engineering | 16 |
| 8 | KAIST · Graduate School of AI | 14 |
| 9 | KAIST · Bio and Brain Engineering | 14 |
| 10 | UNIST · Energy & Chemical Engineering | 14 |
Methodology
- Aggregated from public information in the LabMate lab directory as of July 12, 2026.
- "Recruiting" is marked only when confirmed by official sources (department admissions or lab announcements) — no guessing. Actual openings are likely higher; read these figures as a lower bound.
- The 25 international universities (3,173 labs) are excluded from recruiting counts, as openings were not verified.
- When citing or redistributing, please credit LabMate (labmate.cloud).
See the recruiting labs yourself
Open the lab directory and turn on the "recruiting only" filter to browse by school and field.
Open the lab directory