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

Group Submission Type: Formal Panel Session

Proposal

As part of the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) on education, Target 4.b calls for us to “substantially expand” the number of international scholarships for individuals in developing countries, with an emphasis on the “least developed countries, small island developing States and African countries” and the tertiary academic fields of “vocational training and information and communications technology, technical, engineering and scientific programmes” (United Nations, 2015). It is intended that this goal be reached by 2020. Notably, this target raises multiple questions about the relationship between sponsored international student mobility and sustainability.

Firstly, international scholarship programs are not monolithic. For example, there is no unified definition of “scholarships” and no tool to collect unified data across programs (Bhandari & Mirza, 2016; UNESCO, 2016). Moreover, scholarship programs seek to achieve different goals, ranging from bilateral diplomatic aims (Kent, 2018) and political influence (Wilson, 2014) to skills development that can be applied in the student’s home country (Dant, 2010; Fiddian-Qasmiyeh, 2015) to the “opening” of societies (Brogden, 2018). Some programs explicitly note a focus on development, including personal development (Ahmad, Hassan, & Al-Ahmedi, 2017), national development (Perna, Orosz, & Jumakulov, 2015), or regional development (Burciul & Kerr, 2018). Across various models and in extant scholarship, the way that the sponsored students engage in sustainability efforts as part of or after the program varies considerably, as does the importance of sustainability in the program model or theory of change.

Additionally, the term sustainability has multiple definitions and is often ambiguous (Holden, Linnerud, & Banister, 2014; Lele, 1991). Sustainable development is defined by the UN as “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” (2015). Within the SDGs, education is conceived of in multiple ways, including as both a goal unto itself, a “metaphor for social betterment” (Toukan, 2017, p. 294), and a tool to achieve many other development gains, such as greater environmental sustainability. However, other definitions and applications of the notion of sustainability also exist. For example, Holden, Linnerud, Banister, Schwanitz, and Wierling (2017) recently argued that sustainable development is based on three moral imperatives: satisfying human needs, guaranteeing social equity, and respecting the environment. Moreover, within international higher education, there are many additional applications of term sustainability: Some examples include higher education for sustainability (Olweny, 2018); university student activism for a sustainable future (Murray, 2018); programs that are designed to be financially viable (Scheirer, 2005); and institutions that consider their role in the stewardship of the planet (Aleixo, Azeiteiro, & Leal, 2018).

Bringing these two threads together, Target 4b remains under-theorized in understanding the link intended between sponsored international student mobility and sustainable development outcomes. As Campbell & Mawer (2018) argue, linking scholarship programs and sustainable development outcomes is “made ambiguous” and undertheorized in literature provided by the United Nations to date. Moreover, they argue that “failing to comprehend the theoretical frames that undergird scholarship programs creates an opportunity for diverse (and sometimes perverse) outcomes that may not serve the world’s compact for a sustainable future” (p. 1). Establishing support--both conceptual and financial--to better understand the influence of scholarships on sustainable development has been exacerbated by little public research in this domain, especially as it is a topic that spans multiple academic fields and is often addressed through reports or evaluations not available to the public (Balfour, 2016; Bhandari & Mirza, 2016; Dassin, Marsh, & Mawer, 2018).

Given these dilemmas, this panel examines extant research and shares new findings that address the issue of, interplay among, and conflict between notions of international higher education scholarships and sustainability. The panel highlights research from four papers that is applied, theoretical, and empirical in its approaches. The papers are each listed below.

The panel provides range, as well as depth, in the cases selected to examine the interplay between international scholarship programs and sustainability. The goal of the panel is to raise important considerations and point to new and promising directions through an exploration of sustainability in international higher education scholarship research and practice.

Sub Unit

• General Pool

Chair

• Anne Campbell, Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey

Presenter

• Yeukai Mlambo, Arizona State University

Individual Presentations

• Scholarships in the sustainable development agenda: Distinct theories of change and differentiated ideas of sustainability - Anne Campbell, Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey; Emelye Neff, Middlebury Institute of International Studies

• Regional student mobility as a sustainable development strategy in Africa: Examining the lived experiences of regionally mobile scholarship recipients - Aryn Raye Baxter, Arizona State University; Yeukai Mlambo, Arizona State University; Atota Halkiyo, Arizona State University

• Sustainability and global affairs in the 21st Century: Evidence from the Schwarzman Scholars Program - Frederico Menino, Schwarzman Scholars Program

• Pathways to sustainability: The role of transparency in selection for scholarship programming - Bridget Barry, Institute of International Education