Abstract

At the completion of their master’s degrees, international graduate student scholars at the University of Hawaii were surveyed about the future applicability of their studies. Participants were scholarship recipients of the Ford Foundation International Fellowship (IFP) Program. The IFP program, begun in 2000, provides opportunities for advanced study “to exceptional individuals who will use this education to become leaders in their respective fields, furthering development in their own countries and greater economic and social justice worldwide” (http://www.fordifp.net/). Scholars were surveyed and asked to comment on how their graduate study would help them in their country and how they expected to use what they had learned upon returning home. The paper describes the areas of impact the scholars intended and reports accomplishments of several scholars already in place in their home countries. Issues of education and social justice are linked directly to the data reported. The paper ends with a discussion of return migration and reacculturation, pointing to the need for effective re-entry programs for return migrants.