Human Resource Development in the Costa Rican ICT Sector: Lessons from the Korean Experience

Abstract

This paper focuses on the Costa Rican ICT industry and examines Korean policies on human resource development (HRD) in ICT education to provide a model case for Costa Rica. A strong ICT sector is important for a country to create employment as well as to improve the competitiveness of the economy in general. Human resources in the ICT sector is a core factor for economic development, especially for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to sustain growth in the competitive business environment. Based on the Korean experience, we make three general recommendations for the Costa Rican ICT sector on how to attain a satisfactory level of HRD in SMEs. The first is to start policies on HRD-centered education with strong R&D programs with a focus on ICTs in the universities, which enables engineering students to communicate with management and business students, and vice versa. The second is to support collaboration programs between universities and the industry, in order to foster better interaction between them. The third is to develop strategies to sustain good contact with a highly skilled diaspora, and to strengthen global scientific networks.