Ireland Graduate Grants Policy Research

Low amount of scholarships or grants for post graduate students has become the main reason for brain drain in China. Consequently, Chinese Higher Education Institutions are actively undergoing reform of the training system for post graduate students. As the emphasis of this reform, the policy of scholarship and grant could affect excellent post graduate students'choices and benefits. Thus, the possible changes of related policy about scholarship and grant obtained concern both administrators and students.In the Republic of Ireland, the scholarship and grant policy for post graduate students is based on the requirements of national long-term economic development. This is influenced by the internationalization of higher education. Along with the Irish financial system reform, in line with Irish HEIs'strategic development orientation, coordinating with the current tuition policy, it is following with the current situation. Because this is not a special policy in the form of text, the author has to collect enough typical cases, and conclude some common features.According to the research ideas:"the contexts, what is the policy, why it is like this, evaluation about the policy and the possible trends", This thesis first discusses the economic, political and educational contexts. Later, it explains the meaning and characteristics of the system by illuminating its funding resources, administrative mechanism, capability and basic requirement for all applicants. Then it analyzes the theoretical basis of the policy, and uses the classic economics analysis method:SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) to analyze Irish policy. By comparing with the similar policy in the United States, Britain, Australia and other countries, I forecast the possible trends of the Irish policy. At the same time, I summarize some meaningful lessons, which aim at the inadequacies in similar policy that is being carried out in most Chinese Higher Education Institutions.It can be found that the policy is pursuing both equality and efficiency, and the highlight of this research is that the equality is not equal to parity, but a relative one that depends on the educational cost. And, high amounts of scholarship becomes the traditional strength of the policy, which attracts more and more excellent foreign students, which is so significant for sustainable development both of the post graduate education and the Republic of Ireland.