International Scholarships and Southern Agency: An Ethnography of Alumni, Scholars, and Applicants

Abstract

International scholarships are an established mode of aid distribution for many donor countries and a life-changing educational opportunity for recipients from the global South. This article draws upon ethnographic field research centred on Dili, Timor-Leste, focussing on case studies of a scholarship applicant, a scholar, and an alumnus. It employs the concept of Southern agency, investigating individual practices shaped by influences that both constrain and enable action, namely local infrastructure, family and kinship groups, literacies, and the colonial legacy. Scholarship places are limited and extremely competitive, while assigning a moral imperative for alumni to learn and return to contribute to local development, often resulting in the re-production of socially normed roles echoing the colonial era. The global upheaval in higher education resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic emphasises the need for alternative interventions in the global South, including greater investment in local higher education institutions, and online learning.

The excellence scholarships program: Analysis of implementation aspects and societal impact

“…Under the duties and functions of The Indonesian Ministry of Research, Technology and Higher Education, this program is prioritized to support the efforts to improve the quality of education and culture, so the priority in obtaining funding is the fields relevant to educational and cultural development. Through this program, the government also hopes to narrow the gap in society so that people have the opportunity to access education (King, Forsey, & Pegrum, 2021;Waluyo, Eng, & Wiseman, 2019).…”

“…Second, scholarship programs that are not well planned and distributed evenly can cause inequality in the distribution of resources (Cosentino, Fortson, Liuzzi, Harris, & Blair, 2019;Nimer, 2020). If an area or population does not receive sufficient scholarship allocations, this will reinforce inequality in accessing higher education and the resources needed to advance local communities (King, Forsey, & Pegrum, 2021).…”

Analisis Motivasi Pelajar Indonesia Melanjutkan Studi di Jepang dengan Structural Equational Modeling Partial Least Square

“…Selain itu, pemerintah Jepang memiliki target menerima 300.000 mahasiswa asing per tahun di tahun 2020. Guna menghadapi fenomena internasionalisasi pendidikan, berbagai negara dan pemerintah telah melakukan investasi sumber daya manusia dengan pemberian beasiswa pendidikan atau studi lanjutan (King et al, 2021).…”