Raising Bursary Value and Student Efforts to Increase Grades – Preliminary Finding

This exploratory paper aims to identify and explain student’s opinions on such significant increase of bursary value, their track record of receiving bursary, the efforts they made to increase grades and explore four key factors that form student’s background characteristics: their relations with family, colleagues, friends/ acquaintances, and partner/ spouse. Data collection based on interviews with 33 Engineering students in two phases: individual and group-based written format and included both bursary and non-bursary students. Group-based interviews were designed and performed based on preliminary data analysis and enabled a better understanding of the interactions regarding bursary increase among the same group of students. Data analysis revealed complex interactions among factors that determine increased effort for learning influenced by amount of effort and family’s financial support, pride of accomplishment and being part of the best students as well as personal ambition and competitiveness. The relations with family and financial support provided (or lack of it) have in most cases a critical impact upon Engineering student’s efforts on learning and getting the grant. Entourage, cohort colleagues and close friends also influence student behavior through imitation and by selfarranging students into categories: with bursary (excellent or just good grades), no bursary (grades close or away from bursary trash hold) with dynamic positioning depending on context.