Pathways to sustainability: The role of transparency in selection for scholarship programming

• In Event: International higher education scholarships and sustainable development: exploring sustainability across theory and practice

Proposal

In this paper, the fourth in its series, we present empirical findings from a 10-year study of alumni of the Ford Foundation’s International Fellowships Program (IFP). This IFP Alumni Tracking Study, launched in 2013, uses survey research as well as qualitative fieldwork to explore the potential impacts of the fellowship on the alumni themselves as well as their home communities and countries more broadly. Drawing on these findings, we consider the effects of international scholarship programs on recipient individual and communal outcomes in Africa and the Middle East. In particular, we argue that scholarship programming itself can challenge long-standing obstacles to sustainable development, such as corruption and nepotism that impact higher education systems and international scholarship program implementation.

Drawing on interviews with 361 IFP alumni, program staff, and local stakeholders in four countries in Africa and the Middle East (Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, and Palestine), we observe the role of nepotism and corruption in discouraging participation and engagement among prospective scholarship recipients. Such practices contribute to normalizing discrimination in scholarship selection processes. We explore how transparent scholarship program design and selection processes can help break the cycle of corruption by serving as important examples of equitable access to higher education and informing the values of scholarship applicants. Scholarships and access to educational opportunities serve not only as a pathway to sustainable development, but are themselves shaped in significant ways by the practices of those involved in their implementation.

Our findings suggest that for some alumni the IFP selection process was one of their initial experiences with fairness and transparency, resulting in an increased resolve to create fair and equitable opportunities and practices in their own work. According to one alumna from Palestine, “I was ranked #1 student in my class. ... I applied too many times to scholarships but with no success. When I’ve heard about Ford Fellowship I said to myself [out of frustration] this is going to be my last time to apply for higher education scholarships. ... The [IFP] selection process was fair and professional. ... IFP made me believe that there is still justice in this world.” (Kallick, & Brown Murga, 2018)

In Africa and the Middle East, alumni noted how inspired and motivated they were by the IFP model and its commitment to social justice access for those otherwise excluded. Scholarship programs that keep this focus can serve a social justice purpose by leveraging the ability of their alumni to break these circles of inclusion and exclusion. In fact, one IFP staff member said that they purposefully selected alumni who “never imagined themselves as having an opportunity to pursue a degree in-country or abroad and had little hope to pursue higher education due to economic and social barriers and commitments.” (Kallick, & Brown Murga, 2018)

Program funders and practitioners alike increasingly recognize the value of program design rooted in the values of their organizations. This paper seeks to share unique insights imparted by a large-scale longitudinal study that have the potential to inform future international scholarship programming.

Author

• Bridget Barry, Institute of International Education