Korean scholarships for government officials ready

The 2020 Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) flagship master’s degree scholarship programme has started receiving applications from qualified Ghanaians to undertake between 11 and 18 months studies in the Republic of Korea.

The scholarship, opened to government officials from Ghana and other partner or target countries annually, is funded by the government of the Republic of Korea through KOICA under the Capacity Improvement and Advancement for Tomorrow (CIAT).

Package

The scholarship package awarded by the government of the Republic of Korea and implemented through KOICA includes an air fare, fully paid tuition fees and expenses for extra-curricular activities such as study visits, workshops and Korean language classes.

The rest of the package covers accommodation, insurance and KRW 999,000 (an equivalent of 900 USD) monthly allowance or stipend.

Application forms and guidelines can be downloaded from http://www.koica.go.kr/ciat/index.do and applicants are expected to fill the forms and submit to KOICA Ghana Office not later than March 13, 2020.

Qualification

To qualify to apply, an applicant must be a Ghanaian, officially nominated by his or her metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies (MMDAs) and must be a government employee with a minimum of two years of experience in the field of study.

The applicant is also supposed to be in good health both physically and mentally. However, those with disabilities, but in good mental and physical health, are eligible to apply.

In addition, the applicant must have completed a Bachelor’s degree or an equivalent to college/university level educational background and must have a good command of both spoken and written English in order to take classes conducted entirely in English and be able to write academic reports and thesis in English.

Programmes

Briefing the media on this year’s selection process, the Deputy Country Director of KOICA, Ms Jeongyi Choi, explained that, “KOICA runs this initiative in collaboration with some leading universities in Korea in areas of study such as economics, trade, gender equality, community development, global health security, global ICT policy and others.

Capacity development

Ms Choi, who was supported by the Assistant Manager for CIAT & Governance at KOICA, Ms Renny Lartey and the Communications and External Relations Officer, Ms Linda Egyir-Quainoo, stated that the scholarship scheme had been contributing to the capacity development of beneficiaries, their institutions and indirectly, the systems of “our partner countries since it was added to KOICA’s global strategic portfolio.”

Beneficiaries

She said the KOICA’s master’s degree scholarship programme had always been globally competitive since its inception, saying that this year, the scheme was opened to 64 target or partner countries made up of 16 Asian countries, 23 African countries, 13 Latin American countries, three countries from the Middle East and none from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).

Ms Choi said globally, more than 300 applicants were selected for the programme every year and since 2014 to 2019, 150 Ghanaian government officials had received KOICA scholarships to study various courses in Korea.