South Korea continues support for higher education

By Wagdy Sawahel. South Korea has allocated around US$51 million to assist Africa over the next two years in carrying out human resource development projects, including growing the continent’s scientific workforce, preparing higher education reform strategies and designing education policy.
This was outlined in a joint declaration released after the Korea-Africa Economic Cooperation Ministerial Conference, or KOAFEC, held under the theme 'Sharing Today, Shining Tomorrow' in Seoul from 15-18 October.
The conference was co-organised by Korea's Ministry of Strategy and Finance, Korea Eximbank and the African Development Bank (AfDB).
The way forward
The AfDB’s Chesire said: "In terms of next steps, the bank and Korea are holding discussions to determine the exact scope of increased cooperation in this area.
“Besides the multilateral window, the Republic of Korea is also providing direct bilateral support to African countries in higher education and the details are yet to be determined after consultations with the beneficiaries."
Argued Parry: "What South Korea is successful at is creating a system for South Koreans – so the real test will be if this system translates outside of that specific South Korean environment.
"The higher education cooperation between South Korea as a small country and Africa as a continent will be interesting to watch," he concluded. More...