Scholarship program boosts networks among officials from developing countries

This is the second installment of a series of articles introducing programs and activities of the Korea International Cooperation Agency, a state-run organization for overseas assistance and humanitarian aid. ― Ed.


Rita Osei, a foreign ministry official from Ghana, was curious: Why is her country, richer than South Korea in the 1960s, still receiving official development assistance from industrialized countries, while South Korea’s economy has developed so much that it is increasing its ODA for developing countries?

Thanks to a scholarship program organized by the Korea International Cooperation Agency and implemented by Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, she is taking steps closer to finding out what kind of elements made Korea so successful.

“I wanted to understand what exactly was different from the experience we had. We took certain measures and strategies, very different from what South Korea did,” Osei told The Korea Herald. She is one of the government officials from developing countries who came to Seoul to participate in KOICA’s scholarship program.

Osei’s scholarship program in international development studies at the HUFS is one of the KOICA’s 16 master’s degree programs given this year to experts and government officials from developing countries at 14 Korean universities.

She applied for the program after hearing about it from her colleagues who participated in a similar program with KOICA last year.

The one-year course from July 2011 to August 2012 at the HUFS was open for 20 students from 20 countries ― one student per one country ― in the regions of Asia-Pacific, Africa, the Middle East and Central/Southern America, according to the KOICA.

The course requires obtaining at least 45 credits and an average GPA of B0 to receive the master’s degree.

“I learned that hard work played a crucial role (in South Korea’s success). It is not the ODA that will make difference. It is us that can make difference,” Osei, 31, said.

She said she hopes to make “small changes” at work, when going back to her home country, by motivating colleagues who works next to her.

“If I work hard, the employee next to me will think this official works hard … Then it spreads. They pick up. These are little things I can achieve, nothing major,” she said.

Luse Maivugalei Qereqer from the ministry of women in Fiji is taking another KOICA scholarship program at Ewha Womans University in international studies, specifically in women and development

She said the program will help her achieve a post-graduate study degree, which does not come easy in her home country.

“I wanted to climb up the ladder but there were a lot of challenges because I didn’t have this piece of paper.”

“But this came at the right moment. With this opportunity arriving at the door about women and development issues, I thought this is the opportunity I was looking for,” the 49-year-old official said.

The KOICA-Ewha scholarship program runs 16 months from February 2012 to June 2013, for 30 officials from 21 countries.

All participants of the KOICA scholarship programs live in the respective school’s dormitory ― two persons from different countries share a room. They can receive a master’s degree by completing 41 credits and attending the compulsory Korean language course.

Rosemary Etoh Etame, a 43-year-old education ministry official from Cameroon, said the experience of sharing the room with a roommate helps not only herself, but other officials, learn an important asset to becoming a leader ― tolerance.

“Like leaders of tomorrow, we have been taught how to be tolerant. The rule is that whatever problem you have, you cannot change your roommate, like your destiny,” Etame said.

“You always learn to solve the problem. If you’re not tolerant, you will not make a good leader.”

Because all participants of the program are government officials from different countries, the KOICA program enables them to easily build a close network, officials said.

“We can have a network of people from different ministries. Luse and I already met somewhere before we came here. We’re all going to work together at some point at some time,” Osei said.

The cost of the program ― the full tuition and living expenses for one year― is all covered by the KOICA.

The only difficulty for the program participants is that the scholarship program has a “really short process of application,” according to Anisa Farida, a foreign ministry official from Indonesia.

She said it only took three months from applying for the program and leaving her country.

“It has really short process of application, from admission process to departure. We don’t have time to sit and relax,” the 27-year-old said, adding that the program has Korea’s “ppali ppali” spirit.

Farida, however, said the short process might be a good thing as well, saying that officials tend to wait for much more time if applying for other scholarships in other foreign countries.

Other advanced countries such as Norway, Sweden, Canada, Denmark and Japan ― which are leaders in the ODA area, also run similar scholarship programs but Eiman Salaheldin Kheir from Sudan chose Korea because she wanted to have “alternative perspectives” in international studies. Kheir is studying at Ewha.

“Korea gives alternative perspectives on how to look, especially in international studies. I’m from Sudan, associated with the Middle East and North Africa. I know the western perspectives,” she said.

“Korea provides a very good location to understand Asia, not westernized Asia.”

Qereqer from Fiji said she had to cut down on sleep due to the demanding coursework at Ewha but she felt more energetic.

“KOICA allowed me to realize my real strength. My body has adapted to pushing myself.”

By Kim Yoon-mi (yoonmi@heraldcorp.com)

Five major KOICA training programs


● Country Training Program: Tailored programs that are specifically designed for an individual partner country

● Regular Training Program: Programs that are open to any interested partner countries

● Special Training Program: Programs that are temporarily available owing to particular commitments of the Korean side as well as partner countries

● Joint Training Program: Programs conducted in partnership with international organizations and other donor agencies

● Scholarship Program: Master’s degree programs offered to individuals from partner countries