CIAT 2020 masters degree programme rolled out
The Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) has opened its 2020 Masters Degree scholarship under its Capacity Improvement and Advancement for Tomorrow (CIAT) programme for eligible Ghanaians.
A total of 18 courses are available under the programme however, five are accessible at the moment and is opened to government officials from the various Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs).
The courses include MBA in Agricultural Production, Energy, Science and Policy, Gender and Rural Community Development and Health Policy and Financing Capacity Building.
One slot (MBA in Social Economy) however, is opened to members of the general public with such related backgrounds including civil society organisations (CSOs), research institutions, and social enterprises among others.
At a brief media engagement to announce the offer, Deputy Country Director, Jeongyi Choi explained that application for the first five courses would be opened on March 13 and would form the first batch of applicants to undertake the scholarship.
“As and when we get confirmation from the various universities on the rest of the courses, we will open them for applicants,” she stated.
Ms Choi said prospective Ghanaian candidates would compete with their compatriots from 64 other countries worldwide out of which about 400 would be finally shortlisted for the programmes to be undertaken within a two-year period.
She was, however, hopeful that Ghanaian applicants would take on a higher number of the available slots under the CIAT programmes over the years, Ghanaian officials have topped the enlistment.
“From 2014 to 2019, 150 Ghanaian government officials have received KOICA scholarships to study various courses in Korea and that is the highest compared to other countries,” he said.
Assistant Manager for CIAT& Governance programme under KOICA, Ms. Renny Lartey explained that the decision to award scholarships to government officials was to enrich the country’s human resource capacity for national development.
“Government officials are responsible for initiating policies and programme to better the lives of the citizenry and we need to equip them with needed skills to run the country such that development trickles down to the ordinary person in society.”
Ms Lartey expressed satisfaction with feedback from the programme as beneficiaries had replicated knowledge gained to improve several sectors of the Ghanaian economy.
BY ABIGAIL ANNOH