Purpose: The Australian Government has long used its international scholarship programs as an instrument of soft power in international diplomacy. The paper examines an international scholarship program and its role in Australia's soft power efforts during a period in recent history. Design/methodology/approach: The Australia in the Asian Century…

California State University, Bakersfield (CSUB) received a six-year grant, "Providing Aid for STEM Success" (PASS), from the National Science Foundation (NSF) in March 2024 to offer scholarships and tailored support to academically talented, low-income students in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM). In its inaugural…

This randomized trial investigates the long-term effects of a primary school scholarship program in rural Cambodia. We estimate impacts--9 years after program inception--on educational attainment, cognitive skills, socio-emotional outcomes, labor market outcomes, and well-being. Our results point to systematic improvements in educational…

Low-income students' preferences for higher education might depend on the uncertainty of financial aid. Using a time discontinuity design, this paper exploits the unanticipated cancellation of a nationwide Colombian merit and need-based scholarship, called "Ser Pilo Paga," to study its consequences on students' preferences for higher…

Understanding how students with low socioeconomic status finance their tuition over time can help us comprehend the impact of students' decisions on their subsequent curricular progress, graduation, or dropout. This work presents a curricular analytics approach using process mining techniques to study educational funding trajectories as processes.…

This article addresses two under-theorised subjects in international student mobility (ISM) research: non-Asian students and students in non-traditional study destinations. Drawing upon the notion of 'agency in mobility', I explored African international students' narratives of their enactment of four different forms of agency in China. The…

Results of a Principal Investigators Programmatic Data Inventory (PDI) of a National Science Foundation Robert Noyce Track Four project are discussed in this paper. The PDI results shed light on the development of STEM teacher scholars as they progress through the programs and of the qualifications and procedures of the application process. The…

There are many different schooling options, and we welcome them all under the broad umbrella of choice. But not all educational choice programs are created equal. EdChoice highlights and promotes the programs that create the most pathways for students to lead successful lives. This guide focuses on education savings accounts (ESAs), tax-credit…

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…

This dissertation examines the impacts of a last-dollar promise program on high school-to-college enrollments at a very large community college (VLCC) district in Texas. The research intends to add to the current literature on the growing popularity of promise programs at two-year community colleges. Specifically, this quantitative study examines…

Background/Context: The subject of this study concerns the Michigan College Access Network (MCAN), a college access program that has operated in Michigan since 2010 to promote postsecondary access and equity statewide. The state of Michigan has trailed nationally in educational quality and attainment for the past several decades, ranking 38th in…

This policy brief discusses "switchers" and "non-switchers" in the context of choice programs with broad eligibility (universal and near-universal choice programs). Switchers are students who would have enrolled in a public school without any financial assistance from a choice program. Non-switchers are students who would have…

The paper examines preconceptions and assumptions behind common understandings of 'scholarship awards' in international higher education research, and analyses how these influence the production of knowledge on scholarship programs and their effects. The paper aims to make a major theoretical contribution by proposing an alternative approach to…

Remediating unaffordable and inequitable access to secondary education precipitated Ghana's introduction of the 'Free Senior High School (SHS)' policy. The existing scholarship has done a good job tracing the implementation gaps created by this reform. Considering the importance of local actors, whose contribution to the sustenance of the policy…

Are state universities and state scholarship programs perpetuating income inequality in the United States? Using data from Florida on the number of students from each public high school in the state who attended a State University System (SUS) university and the number who received a Florida Bright Futures (FBF) scholarship, this paper attempts to…