49th Annual Report (2007-2008) - Commonwealth Scholarship ...

Monitoring progress
As part of its responsibility to both funding bodies and award holders, the CSC has put into place a number
of procedures aimed at monitoring both the progress of Commonwealth Scholars and Fellows and that of
the scheme as a whole.
Maintaining contact with award holders
● Each award holder is the responsibility of a named
officer within the secretariat who, having arr anged
placement, becomes the main point of reference
for subsequent dealings with the Commission.
● British Council staff make contact with award
holders shortly after arrival in the UK. Award
holders are provided with a memory stick
preloaded with useful information to assist them
in their preparations for, their journey to, and their
stay in the UK.
● Officers from the secretariat visit a number of
institutions per year, meeting with award holders
and their supervisors to listen to issues and
provide information and advice.
● Access, as required, is provided to specialist serv -
ices offered by the British Council, which deals
with matters such as welfare and immigration.
Monitoring progress of award holders
● If necessary, contact is made with the prospective
supervisor at the time of arrival, pointing out special
needs and problems that may be enc ountered.
● Award holders and, for research degrees, super -
visors are required to write a report at the end of
their first term, enabling potential problems to be
highlighted at an early stage.
● Award holders and their supervisors/tutors are
required to write a detailed report at the end of
each year.
● First term and annual reports are monitored for
emerging issues – each report is read not only by
secretariat staff, but also by at least one member
of the Commission.
Evaluating the scheme and new programmes
● Host institutions are systematically surveyed each
year to obtain information on progress, qualific at -
ions gained, submission dates and, where studies
are still in progress, likely dates of completion (see
‘Completion of courses’ below). The secret ariat
compares completion and submission rates with
those of other bodies, such as the UK research
councils, and compares performance by gender
and subject and across institutions.
● The secretariat monitors policies of similar
scholarship-awarding bodies to inform the
development of the Commission’s policies. Recent
examples of this include offering PDF application
forms for completion online, and initial plans for
an electronic application system.
● Each year, award holders are asked to complete
an anonymous questionnaire, enquiring about
their experiences of studying and living in the UK
and the administration of the scheme. These
responses are analysed for review by the Comm -
ission (see ‘Award holders’ views’ below).
● The Commission’s Welcome Programme and skills
events are evaluated each year, and the results
used in the planning of future events.
● During the previous report year, the Commission
decided to commence an extensive evaluation
programme to examine the impact of the scheme,
with initial findings for publication in November
2008 (see ‘Evaluation and monitoring’ below).
Completion of courses
The successful completion of qualifications is mon -
itored closely by the Commission. For taught Master’s
courses, the success rate remains high, and results
from the most recent year analysed show a comp -
letion rate of 98% for Commonwealth Scholars and
95% for Shared Scholars.
Doctoral results are also high, with completion
rates for the most recent year analysed – PhDs
started in 2002 – at 84%. This figure is expected to
rise, since some students have yet to finish. The
submission rate (those who submitted their thesis
within four years of commencing their PhD) for this
group of Scholars is 71%. High proportions of those
award holders studying in the science and agriculture
disciplines, in particular, tend to submit their theses
within four years, with those in the arts and social
sciences tending to take slightly longer.
Award holders’ views
In 2008, 342 award holders returned the annual
anonymous questionnaire. In addition to the opport -
16 Commonwealth Scholarship Commission