Examining a model of scholarship for social justice

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to measure the impact of international scholarship programs for social justice – a case study of the Ford Foundation International Fellowships Program (IFP), the first model of scholarships for social justice. The human capability approach advanced by Amartya Sen is selected to conceptualize the measurement of the impacts. This study attempts to propose an alternative approach, which allows scholarship sponsors to see scholarship impact on the matter of people’s capabilities, rather than economic growth. By using the data from the 2012 IFP Alumni surveys ( n = 1,794, 49.4% female, 50.6% male) and the fellows data ( n = 422, 47.6% female, 52.4% male) collected in 2003, 2004, 2005, and 2006 by the Center for Higher Education Policy Studies, this study examined the relationships of the very foundational rationale behind the creation of IFP as well as the proposed structural equation model built upon the human capability approach with fellows’ impacts on social justice in their home country. Structural equation modelling was employed as the statistical technique. The results of the analyses revealed that: (a) fellows’ success of choices were positively related to fellows’ impacts on social justice; and (b) fellows’ capabilities and achieved functionings positively predicted fellows’ impacts on social justice. The proposed structural equation model was proved to be theoretically sound and explain the data well.