Perceived contributions to national development

What is it about?

The purpose of this paper is to explore how Mongolian alumni of three different scholarship programs sponsored by governments of Japan and Mongolia view their role in national development after graduation. This paper reports findings from a phenomenological study (Creswell, 2007)—the first phase of an exploratory sequential mixed-methods study in a recent Ph.D. study. Based on semi-structured interviews with 24 alumni the study aimed to understand alumni’s perspectives in their voices. Alumni were motivated to contribute to their communities, institutions, economic, political, social and legal conditions of Mongolia. However, they faced various structural challenges including getting jobs in the public sector even when they had binding agreements with employers. The findings call for long-term support for alumni projects and hubs as well as policy frameworks that tie the scholarship programs with national development goals.

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