Online Education as a Solution to Managing and Sustaining Foreign Aid: Comparison Between the European Cases and Others

Inbound education official development assistance (ODA) has been known to be spread across regions regardless of geographic proximity. This not only negatively impacts effectiveness to manage aid, but also to sustain aid long-term. This study examines aid disbursement pattern of the United Kingdom, Germany, Australia, and South Korea, which are all members of OECD’s Development Assistance Committee that allocates inbound education ODA. With the empirical results confirming Korea’s lack of concentration in education ODA, this study recommends establishing satellite campuses as a more viable, operative solution than the previously suggested solution of establishing a specialized agency focusing on scholarship programs. As validated by Nagoya University’s Asian Satellite Campuses Institute (ASCI), transferring much of work to the online platform reduces time and financial costs. Furthermore, satellite campuses are expected to facilitate various means of partnerships among aid donor countries that are implementing similar programs. International collaborative efforts could help improve the quality of inbound education and play an important role in attracting bright prospective students. Thus, donor countries could utilize online education platform to overcome severe geographic obstacles in distance education and increase effectiveness of its inbound education ODA.