Research and science capability:
Bright Future Scholarship – Early Stage Evaluation

University Teaching Development Centre, Victoria University of Wellington, and Victoria Link Ltd, 2001.

Scope:

This early stage evaluation was undertaken to achieve the following objectives:

• To provide Government agencies (the Foundation? and Ministry of Education) with reliable information on the effectiveness of the investment in the Bright Future (BF) Scholarships.
• To determine the range of factors which contribute to the effectiveness of that investment and recommend a basis for ongoing evaluation.

The survey consisted of:

• a questionnaire obtaining data from a sample of 20% of BF scholars (total 210)
• telephone interviews with 10% of BF scholars (21)
• four university research officers at universities and six Enterprise partners sponsoring the enterprise awards.

Conclusions

Impact of the Bright Future Scholarship scheme

The BF Scholarship scheme was valued by the scholars who participated in the survey and was succeeding in signalling the value of high-level intellectual skills. A BF scholarship was seen as prestigious and had a high motivational value, however, recipients were already highly self-motivated and mostly planned to continue their studies/research with or without the scholarship.

The BF scholarship was valued by scholars for the provision of generous financial support that allowed them to concentrate on their research.

The BF scholarship had had little impact on focusing research into areas likely to create the knowledge economy and respondents indicated that the scholarship did not influence their areas of expertise or choice of topics.

The enterprise partners indicated that the scheme had assisted in developing linkages between their enterprises and education providers.

Concerns

The BF scholarship scheme was not increasing the supply of highly trained researchers and highly skilled graduates in NZ because scholars stated that it had not influenced their career plans.

One of the main concerns was the retention of these scholars for the knowledge economy.

73.7% of respondents indicated that they intended to relocate overseas after completion of their studies to gain experience and for better facilities/research opportunities. Few indicated an intention to return and the respondents studying overseas expressed concerns about returning because of a lack of relevant job opportunities in NZ.

Administration of the scheme

The administration of the BF Scholarship scheme ran smoothly. Areas identified for improvement were:

• notification of time limits necessary for all stakeholders
• feedback on evaluation process provided to all applicants and research offices
• advertising should concentrate more on student newspapers and posters for notice boards, presentations needed timely notification
• roles in the application process (research office, supervisor, university department, enterprise manager) needed clarification
• consistency between paper application form and web-based form
• status of host institution – various problems noted regarding this section in application form
• some issues regarding funding (enterprise scholarship mostly).

Related work

Tracking survey of Scholars and Fellows, Victoria Link Ltd, December 2001.

Bright Future Scholarship scheme, 2002, Evaluation Unit, Foundation for Research Science and Technology, 2002.