Research and science capability:
Bright Future Scholarship Evaluation
Summary
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Published: 1 Jan 2002
Evaluation Unit, Foundation? for Research Science and Technology, 2002.
The majority of scholars experienced no major constraints to their studies. This was consistent with the 2001 evaluation findings.
“Publication of research” (6.4) was rated as the most important next step after the completion of their scholarships. “Technology development” (4.3) and “commercial application” (4.6) were rated much less importantly.
Scholars’ actual or planned careers were mainly in ‘research/technology’ (51.3%) and ‘teaching/lecturing’ (18.9%).
Almost half the scholars (41.2%) had taken no action regarding employment or further study.
62.2% of scholars intended to pursue their career overseas on completion of the scheme or study. Of these, 4.3% intend to go overseas permanently, 69.6% temporarily, and 26.1% were unsure. These findings clarified the 2001 study which had suggested a greater number of scholars intending to relocate overseas permanently.
University offices were satisfied with the scheme documents and considered that they had improved over the previous twelve months.
Although universities understood the roles of the different parties well, they felt that the ENT host companies may not have understood their role in the process, especially regarding payment.
Individual department and academic staff were responsible for developing linkages with companies, but some universities also had a business development manager or a person who was solely responsible for doing this.
Universities rate the effectiveness of the scheme highly (7.4) compared with companies who rate the scheme at 6.7.
Suggestions for improving the scheme included:
Just over half the enterprises reported that they had no links with Technology in Industry Fellowships (TIF).
Benefits to enterprises included the research contributing to new product development that had commercialisation potential, increasing skills and knowledge development, providing a means of evaluating potential employees and promoting advances in industry.
Three out of four enterprises said that they would use the ENT scheme again.
Bright Future Scholarship scheme – early stage evaluation, University Teaching Development Centre and Victoria Lin,k 2001.
Evaluation of Bright Future Scholarships, Ministry of Education, Networkers (Liz Gordon, Jan McPherson), 2004.
Scope:
The evaluation aimed to:- obtain further early evidence (in addition to the early stage evaluation of 2001) of the effectiveness of the Bright Future Scholarship (BF) scheme
- obtain information on Top Achiever Doctoral (TAD) and Enterprise Scholarship (ENT) administration, uptake and quality.
- a web-based questionnaire of 60 BF scholars (66.1% response rate)
- a total of seven interviews with research or scholarships offices dealing with TADs and ENTs, at each of the 7 New Zealand universities.
- a total of 20 interviews with host businesses for ENTs.
Summary
Scholars
Scholars rated the benefits of the scheme well above the mean (scale ranging from 1 “no benefit” to 7 “major benefit”). This also applied to their ratings of satisfaction with the administration of the scholarship.The majority of scholars experienced no major constraints to their studies. This was consistent with the 2001 evaluation findings.
“Publication of research” (6.4) was rated as the most important next step after the completion of their scholarships. “Technology development” (4.3) and “commercial application” (4.6) were rated much less importantly.
Scholars’ actual or planned careers were mainly in ‘research/technology’ (51.3%) and ‘teaching/lecturing’ (18.9%).
Almost half the scholars (41.2%) had taken no action regarding employment or further study.
62.2% of scholars intended to pursue their career overseas on completion of the scheme or study. Of these, 4.3% intend to go overseas permanently, 69.6% temporarily, and 26.1% were unsure. These findings clarified the 2001 study which had suggested a greater number of scholars intending to relocate overseas permanently.
Universities
Scholarship offices considered the display of colourful A4 sized posters one of the best ways for the Foundation to improve the advertisement and promotion of the TAD and ENT scholarships to students.University offices were satisfied with the scheme documents and considered that they had improved over the previous twelve months.
Although universities understood the roles of the different parties well, they felt that the ENT host companies may not have understood their role in the process, especially regarding payment.
Individual department and academic staff were responsible for developing linkages with companies, but some universities also had a business development manager or a person who was solely responsible for doing this.
Universities rate the effectiveness of the scheme highly (7.4) compared with companies who rate the scheme at 6.7.
Suggestions for improving the scheme included:
- Reducing the time for confirming applications.
- Providing formal contracts between companies and the Foundation, especially regarding the funding payment.
- Reimbursing the universities for the cost of administering the scheme.
- Providing more assistance in identifying projects and linking students.
- More advertising and awareness to companies about the scheme.
- Better advertising of the schemes for students.
Enterprises
Companies generally had no problems with the administration of the ENT scheme, however, comments were made on the following issues:- Mechanisms for the Foundation, universities and companies to work together (e.g. joint management and review of projects).
- Importance of maintaining the confidentiality of commercially sensitive information in a research context.
- Flexible payment methods.
- Slow response and lack of feedback experienced by companies.
- Supervision or cost requirements were more than was expected.
Just over half the enterprises reported that they had no links with Technology in Industry Fellowships (TIF).
Benefits to enterprises included the research contributing to new product development that had commercialisation potential, increasing skills and knowledge development, providing a means of evaluating potential employees and promoting advances in industry.
Three out of four enterprises said that they would use the ENT scheme again.
Related work
Tracking survey of Scholars and Fellows, Victoria Link Ltd, 2001.Bright Future Scholarship scheme – early stage evaluation, University Teaching Development Centre and Victoria Lin,k 2001.
Evaluation of Bright Future Scholarships, Ministry of Education, Networkers (Liz Gordon, Jan McPherson), 2004.