KOICA Offers 30 Ghanaians Scholarship to Study in Korea

The Korean government, through the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), has offered scholarship to 30 Ghanaians to undertake their master’s degree programmes in that country by the close of June, this year.

Among programmes the beneficiaries would study in are Global Health Security, Economics, Tax and Finance, Gender Equality, Community Water Resource Management and Energy Science.

The Deputy Head of Mission of the Korean Embassy in Ghana, Ms Jeeyoung Kim, announced this at the 2019 KOICA knowledge-sharing forum held in Accra last Wednesday.

Among the objectives of the forum was the dissemination of thesis by five beneficiaries of the 2017 master’s scholarship batch who had completed their respective studies in Korea.

Present included supervisors of the students and members of the KOICA Alumni Association of Ghana (KAAG).

The beneficiaries would study in 20 leading universities in Korea such as Seoul National University, Yonsei University, Korea University, Hallym University, Ewha Women’s University, Handong Global University, Hankyong University, Pukyong University and Ajou University.

Significance

According to Ms Kim, the forum which was initiated by KOICA, was pivotal to the socio economic development and institutional capacity building of Ghanaians.

“A forum like this calls for self reflection as citizens on our responsibilities and duties to our nation, utilisation of knowledge and home-grown solutions beyond aid and creation of local development opportunities to bridge development gaps in the country.

“Turning knowledge, best practices, know-how, information and technology into effective development and growth is the new currency of every country now, and I will urge all gathered here to embrace it firmly,” she added.

Ms Kim also mentioned agriculture and rural development, public health, education and energy as some of the Korean government’s bilateral development cooperation strategies for Ghana.

Beneficiaries

The Country Director of KOICA, Mr Yukyum Kim, said a total of 120 Ghanaian government officials had so far received scholarship from the Republic of Korea through KOICA to study in various courses in some universities in Korea since 2010.

He explained that the learning forum was to enable stakeholders deliberate, create awareness, interact and solicit feedbacks on research by beneficiaries.

Since 1992, the Korean government, through KOICA, has contributed to the human resource development of almost 823 government officials in Ghana through short training programmes and master’s degree scholarship.