Sida’s Bilateral Research Cooperation with Bolivia: Post-Graduation Trajectories of PhD Students
(2025) EOSK12 20251Department of Economic History
- Abstract
- International mobility programs have long served as tools to achieve economic and diplomatic objectives. In alignment with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), there is an increasing emphasis on scholarship programs and education as means to build capacity and reduce poverty. The Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) reflects this shift through several bilateral research programs, including with Bolivia, using a “sandwich model” for PhD training to strengthen research capacity in low-income countries. However, limited research exists on the post-graduation trajectories of alumni from these programs—both for Sida’s initiatives and international scholarship programs more broadly, especially those involving... (More)
- International mobility programs have long served as tools to achieve economic and diplomatic objectives. In alignment with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), there is an increasing emphasis on scholarship programs and education as means to build capacity and reduce poverty. The Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) reflects this shift through several bilateral research programs, including with Bolivia, using a “sandwich model” for PhD training to strengthen research capacity in low-income countries. However, limited research exists on the post-graduation trajectories of alumni from these programs—both for Sida’s initiatives and international scholarship programs more broadly, especially those involving mobility from developing to developed countries. This study addresses that gap by examining Sida’s cooperation with two Bolivian universities – Universidad Mayor de San Andrés (UMSA) and Universidad Mayor de San Simón (UMSS) – from 2000 to 2022, evaluating the extent to which alumni trajectories align with program objectives: strengthening Bolivia’s research capacity, fostering sustainable development, and reducing poverty. The study employs a mixed-methods approach, combining a comprehensive survey of program alumni with follow-up interviews targeting participants who live abroad or have spent significant time abroad. This approach supports interpretation of the quantitative findings and enables deeper theoretical insight. Findings indicate that while alumni trajectories do contribute to research capacity building, the broader program objectives are not fully optimized, in which problem spots can most predominantly be identified at UMSA. In particular, the research highlights the wider implications of brain drain resulting from the cooperation. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9197661
- author
- Corraliza Persson, Elsa LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- EOSK12 20251
- year
- 2025
- type
- M2 - Bachelor Degree
- subject
- language
- English
- id
- 9197661
- date added to LUP
- 2025-06-16 11:42:07
- date last changed
- 2025-06-16 11:42:07
@misc{9197661,
abstract = {{International mobility programs have long served as tools to achieve economic and diplomatic objectives. In alignment with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), there is an increasing emphasis on scholarship programs and education as means to build capacity and reduce poverty. The Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) reflects this shift through several bilateral research programs, including with Bolivia, using a “sandwich model” for PhD training to strengthen research capacity in low-income countries. However, limited research exists on the post-graduation trajectories of alumni from these programs—both for Sida’s initiatives and international scholarship programs more broadly, especially those involving mobility from developing to developed countries. This study addresses that gap by examining Sida’s cooperation with two Bolivian universities – Universidad Mayor de San Andrés (UMSA) and Universidad Mayor de San Simón (UMSS) – from 2000 to 2022, evaluating the extent to which alumni trajectories align with program objectives: strengthening Bolivia’s research capacity, fostering sustainable development, and reducing poverty. The study employs a mixed-methods approach, combining a comprehensive survey of program alumni with follow-up interviews targeting participants who live abroad or have spent significant time abroad. This approach supports interpretation of the quantitative findings and enables deeper theoretical insight. Findings indicate that while alumni trajectories do contribute to research capacity building, the broader program objectives are not fully optimized, in which problem spots can most predominantly be identified at UMSA. In particular, the research highlights the wider implications of brain drain resulting from the cooperation.}},
author = {{Corraliza Persson, Elsa}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Sida’s Bilateral Research Cooperation with Bolivia: Post-Graduation Trajectories of PhD Students}},
year = {{2025}},
}