The GDLN is a unique partnership of over 120 affiliates in more than 80 countries from Africa, Asia, Europe, America and Oceania. The KDI School is the only Korean center, making it the central hub for discussing material related to Korea’s development. This partnership holds various educational events such as the GDLN Distance Learning Seminars, where students gather in order to study and discuss topics related to economics and policies. Each yearly program consists of seven GDLN video conferences that are organized in two parts over a five month period. The seminars are held through video conferences, but participants may apply for a chance to visit the KDI School in the form of a face-to-face training program.

Up to this day, two of the seven video conferences on the topic of human capital and innovation policies have been held. On May 14th, the first seminar on human capital started off the 2015 GDLN seminars with an introduction of the course and an overview of human capital policies in Korea. This lecture introduced a general overview on Korea’s human development, as well as the characteristics of Korea’s explosive expansion in its education center, which formulated the ‘bubble’ which still exists in Korean society. The lecture also touched on educational reform and crisis management, and other strategies that would help fix the current issues the Korean system held.

The following seminar, on the 23rd of June, focused on the industrialization period of Korea, studying how human capital policy and economic development in Korea went hand in hand. Considering human capital is an essential component for economic growth, developing countries need strategies to accumulate human capital effectively, especially during early stages of development or industrialization. Several strategies such as brain circulation, coordination between education and industry, and effective financial management for human resource development were touched upon.

There are still 4 seminars left in this series, concerning the major challenges in educational policies in developing countries, which is the last lecture of the human capital portion of the series. It discusses educational challenges such as universal primary education, education costs, quality/quantity, and other issues. After that, there are three seminars concerning innovation policies; innovation and economic catch-up in Korea, Innovation and Entrepreneurship, and the Economics of Innovation. These topics will discuss how, in a world with many businesses and competition, innovation is the key to successfully becoming a developed country comparable to others. The last seminar, which is on the 15th of September, is a wrap-up lesson, comprised of presentations by each GDLN Distance Learning Center on their country’s own experiences related to the topic at hand.

The dates for the remaining four seminars are July 14th and 28th, August 11th and 25th, and september 15th. All video conferences will be set for 16:00 to 17:30, in the Korean time zone.

The face-to-face training program is only for participants, who have registered and attended all seven sessions of the GDLN Distance Learning Seminar Series. This face-to-face program will be held over the course which will be completed with lectures and visits to nearby Korean sites as to help the participants understand better about the nation and its cult.

By Leah Chepkoske Waweru (2014 MDP, Kenya)