Ends Changed, Means Retained: Scholarship Programs, Political Influence, and Drifting Goals

Abstract

Research Highlights and Abstract Governments offer scholarships to foreign nationals expected to become influential in their home countries and shape public opinion to the benefit of their sponsor. This is known as the ‘opinion leader’ model. The histories of three British scholarship programs whose directors now subscribe to the ‘opinion leader’ model suggest they were actually set up for other reasons. Beliefs about what the programs are for have shifted toward the ‘opinion leader’ model even as they have continued to do the same things. The pattern of changing objectives seems to fit a Kingdonian model of the policy process. Many governments offer scholarships specifically to foreign citizens. In recent years both policymakers and academics have associated these scholarships with political influence, arguing that they generate sympathetic and influential alumni who support positive relationships between their home country and their sponsor. Digging deeper into the histories of several scholarship programs which are now being portrayed in this way shows they were actually set up for very different reasons. Explanations for why scholarships are being given to foreign citizens have changed over time, consistent with a Kingdonian model of the policy process. We need to be cautious about taking these claims at face value, an important reminder for foreign policy analysts more generally.

A Systematic Review of International Higher Education Scholarships for Students From the Global South

“…The intended goal is that when they return and rise to positions of power, they will be able to influence their constituents and also advance bilateral relationships to build economic trade, reduce hostilities or war, maintain alliances, or spread ideologies (at the macro-level). Laying out the theory of change of how international exchange contributes to diplomatic gains, Wilson (2015) argued that scholarship programs ultimately intend to create opinion-leaders (credited to Scott-Smith, 2008), whereby a scholarship “benefits their countries by generating alumni who are well informed about and well disposed toward the country in which they studied” (p. 131). Wilson also wrote that when evaluating programs based in diplomacy, program administrators “often point to alumni who have gone on to attain influential positions” and that politicians may “periodically raise concerns that [alumni] are not influencing effectively enough” (p. 131).…”

“…Furthermore, it is commonplace to lump all scholarship programs together, assuming that they share similar attributes, goals, and outcomes. Toward this point, Wilson (2015) argued that over time, prominent British scholarships converge on one goal, creating sympathetic "opinion leaders," building better relations between the students' home countries and the United Kingdom. More recently, Boeren (2018) noted that most scholarships combine multiple objectives, which "may lead to a conflict of interests in some respects, but in most cases a balance is found" (p. 44).…”

The ritual creation of political symbols: International exchanges in public diplomacy

“…Do the participants who return to their home country exhibit a positive attitude towards the home country, and do they obtain a social position from which they can diffuse that positive attitude? The notion that participants ‘internalise’ a positive attitude towards the host country and pass it on to their local networks as ‘multipliers’ forms the core of the widespread opinion leader model put forth by governments (Wilson, 2015).…”

“…1 The exchange programme is then evaluated in terms of whether former grantees occupy influential positions in their home countries, which would help to institutionalise the newly acquired positive attitude in local conditions. This opinion leader model has served as the basis for the formation of international exchanges and their empirical assessments (Wilson, 2015), usually clad in the terminology of ‘soft power’ (Atkinson, 2010; Stoddart, 2014). However, while this model posits clear goals and effects, the how-question has been rarely asked (Sevin, 2017: 883–884).…”

Approaches to Analyzing the Outcomes of International Scholarship Programs for Higher Education

“…Examining the Marshall, Chevening, and UK Commonwealth Scholarships, Wilson (2015) observed that the initial reasons for which the programs were set up do not match the current articulation of their goals by policy documents and program administrators. Instead, the aims had shifted toward a common "opinion-leader model": The assumption that accrual of soft power with individuals likely to hold influential positions will lead to diplomatic gains in the long run (Wilson, 2015).…”