Alternative Paths from Education to Employment: Assessing Korea’s Policy for Advancement of High School Vocational Education

• In Event: Transforming Education: Korea's Vocational and Global Citizenship Education, and Gender-Specific International Policy Reforms

Proposal

Since joining the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) in 2010, South Korea (hereafter Korea) has dramatically increased its funding for official development assistance (ODA) from $10 billion to $47 billion in 2024. While the announcement by the government to promise $50.8 billion for 2025 has reaffirmed this trend, several studies are questioning whether the quality of Korea’s ODA is keeping pace with its increased investments (Birdsall et al. 2010; Kang, Y. H. 2014; OECD 2018; KCOC & KoFID 2023).
Education is an integral part of Korea’s ODA portfolio and reflects the country’s own development experience. Scholars point to human capital accumulation as the key driver of Korea’s successful transition from a least developed country to one of the world’s largest economies (Vogel, E. F. 1991; Birdsall, N. M. 1993). Seeking to recreate this development model, the Korean government has prioritized education to support the Global South (ROK 2010, 2022). However, there is still a lack of evidence-based research on its effectiveness (Park et al. 2016; Kim et al. 2018; Kim, S. J. & Jeon, H. E. 2022).
In this paper, we examine to what extent Korea’s education aid has improved learning outcomes of its key partner countries. Designated under Korea’s ODA system since 2011, these countries are also among the highest recipients of education aid from Korea. To answer this question, we gathered longitudinal data from the Korean government’s ODA and the OECD’s Creditor Reporting System (CRS) databases. We combined this investment data with various international learning assessment outcomes (e.g. PISA, TIMSS, Angrist et al's Harmonized Learning Outcomes) and conducted a regression analysis, quantifying the effects of Korea's education aid from 2010 to 2022.
In the end, we expect to (a) evaluate to what extent Korea’s educational ODA has effectively contributed to improving learning outcomes in its key partner countries and (b) identify whether the characteristics of partner countries’ socioeconomic contexts explain differing impacts of education aid. Based on our findings, this paper will provide a clearer picture of Korea’s educational ODA and contextualize its effectiveness within international educational development, especially amidst the transition to digitalization. Moreover, our study will encourage subsequent research to focus on specific projects/programs under Korea’s education aid scheme—such as teacher professional development (TPD), technical and vocational education and training (TVET), and digital learning—to determine their respective effects. Another promising avenue for future research is to compare the impacts of educational interventions between emerging donors like Korea and traditional ones. Ultimately, we hope that our research can inform global discourse on Korea’s educational ODA and its distinctive characteristics.

Authors

• Dayeong Kim, Stanford University

• Sang Woo Kim, Stanford University