Bakyt Zholamanova (2022 MPP, Kazakhstan)

The KDI School has provided me with many things for which I am grateful. Starting from a scholarship that allowed me to gain area-specific policy-making knowledge and finishing with diverse field trips that help to explore Korean history and culture. However, apart from these, KDIS also pays special attention to the adaptation of international students to living in Korea. For example, the KDI Buddy program matches one Korean and two international students. When I first came here, it was difficult for me to figure out how things work here. I did not know how to rent bikes, make online orders, buy tickets for trains, and so on. I was frustrated and overwhelmed with the amount of information that I needed to deal with. Moreover, this feeling was intensified by the fact that I did not reside in the dormitory where I could talk to other students and get some pieces of advice.

However, thanks to my buddies Yoo Jin and Lyka, I was able to learn all the necessary things and easily adapt to living here. They were patiently helping me with every non-familiar thing, so now, I feel beyond grateful for such kindness shown to me. KDI’s Buddy program not only helps to explore the cultural differences of participants and build a global community but also brings together people from all over the world. So, thanks to this great school initiative, I found close friends with whom I tried home-cooked Korean national dishes, visited interesting spots, and had a chance to do café hopping. I love my school for its efforts in making each of our lives more exciting and diverse.   

Obed Mawunyo Tettey (2022 MPP, Ghana)

One of the things I admire most about KDIS is the constant pursuit of improvement. The school tries to integrate all the modern methods of policymaking. For example, the university recently introduced a data science concentration. Before taking Data Visualization, Fundamentals of R for Public Policy, and Fundamentals of Python Programming, I thought data science was all about programming. However, during these classes, I realized that it could serve as a powerful tool for policymakers when dealing with complex issues such as poverty, hunger, unemployment, food insecurity, gender inequality, climate change, etc. These problems can be solved more effectively by applying data science.  

We live in an era where "data is the new oil," which feeds entire industries and is of enormous value, especially when you consider that the public sector is cluttered with huge amounts of data on population demographics, production of goods and services in countries, economic transactions between trading companies, health and pandemics. However, if this data is not processed, it becomes virtually useless. So, we need to use this information and get conclusions that will help in policy making.  

Data science allows policymakers to think through different channels. I think this is a natural evolution of the school's mission to train and educate the next generation of leaders and policymakers.