Government scholarships for international higher education: pathways for social change in Kazakhstan

Abstract

Globally, scholarships for international higher education play a critical role in human capital development. While substantial research has documented the benefits such scholarships provide for individuals, their impact on the creation of pathways for social change remains under-researched. This paper bridges this gap by examining the extent to which a government scholarship for international education has created pathways for social change in Kazakhstan. Data were collected through interviews with 67 scholarship alumni. Drawing on Dassin et al.’s (2018) framework for pathways to social change, the findings reveal that international education fosters social change in Kazakhstan in four ways. First, the scholarship program develops local talent and builds agents of change. Second, it widens access to international education, particularly for individuals from marginalized communities, who would otherwise lack access owing to their scarce financial resources. Third, the program develops alumni’s cosmopolitan and intercultural competencies and strengthens international collaborations. Finally, it creates associations and groups through which alumni can collectively contribute to society. The findings highlight that while the interviewed alumni foster strong patriotic feelings and are determined to contribute to the prosperity of their country, underdeveloped industries, economic volatility, and top-down bureaucracy in workplaces limit their potential contributions to social changes. These findings may help policymakers and administrators to reconsider and improve on the design and structure of scholarship programs.

Understanding Government-Funded Doctoral Students’ Non-Degree International Exchange Experiences: Evidence from China

“…This study reveals an increase of the VDS’ national pride and commitment to serving the motherland in order to repay its cultivation as awardees of the CSC scholarship, echoing Jiang et al's (2020) claim that state investment in grooming high quality talents can inculcate a stronger sense of national pride. Although previous studies on government-funded programs noted the enhancement of national human capital resulting from recipients’ obligatory return to repay the investment (e.g., Perna et al, 2015), this study adds new insights with hints of recipients’ increase of national pride as a soft pulling force that may be harnessed for nation-building, echoing Jonbekova's (2023) recent finding that government scholarships for international higher education foster recipients’ patriotic feelings and determination to contribute to the prosperity of the mother country. In a cultural context such as China where “when drinking water, one should not forget its source” and “to study for the rise of China” are deeply enshrined and unremittingly practiced for generations, it is of particular usefulness to strategize short-term government-funded programs in achieving brain gain.…”

Rethinking International Scholarships as Peace Interventions in the Palestinian Context of Conflict

“…Beyond settings of (immediate) conflict, scholarships are a significant capacity-building intervention (Raetzell et al 2013). In developing countries across the East and South, scholarship experiences are consistently reported to enhance recipients' delivery of and/or advocacy for positive technical and social change at community, institutional, and national levels (Abimbola et al 2016;Campbell and Baxter 2019;Campbell et al 2021;Demir et al 2000;Jonbekova 2023). Though evidence of the impact at a systemic level remains scarce , plausible suggestions of such impact can be observed in the relevant literature.…”