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Wikimania/Scholarships/2012

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Number of scholarships

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Organization Full scholarships Partial scholarships Total scholarships Estimated spend (Local currency) USD
WMF 87 47 134 ~$150,000 (TBC; not all these were accepted) ~$150,000
WMUK 6 3 9 £6,000 ~$9,250
WMFR 8 0 8 €10,000 (+€10,000 to global pot) ~$24,500
WMAT 10 0 10 15.000 EUR (budgeted - actual numbers follow when financial report is soon ready) ~$18,250
WMAU 0 3 3 AUD$3000 ~$3,000
WMCH 4 0 4 7500CHF ~$7,500
WMHU 4 2 6 900,000 HUF planned, actual around 1,400,000 HUF ~$5,750
WMIT 8 0 8 €10,000 (final expense € 8,900) ~$10,750
WMDE 20 0 20 €30,000 ~$38,745
WMIL 4 0 4 $5,700 $5,700
WMPL 9 0 9 89700 PLN ~$28,460
ROSEdu 0 1 1 $1,000 $1,000

Acceptance rates by region

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2012 Wikimania Scholarship acceptance rates were highest in Europe
Region Applied WMF accepted Chapter accepted Total accepted Acceptance rate
Africa 73 11 0 11 15%
Asia & Pacific 365 37 5 38 10%
CIS 76 13 2 15 20%
Europe 269 18 67 85 32%
MENA 104 13 4 17 16%
North America 114 18 2 20 18%
South/Latin America 143 24 0 24 17%
Overall 1113 134 80 214 18%





Geographical distribution of scholarships

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Note: graphs do not yet contain Australia chapter scholarship numbers

2012 Wikimania Scholarship distribution by country (WMF & Chapter) By region, proportions of applicants at each stage

See "By Country" for breakdown

Average scores of applications by region

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2012 Wikimania Scholarship applicant and recipient scores

Note: graphs do not yet contain Australia chapter scholarship numbers
The applications were judged on a 5-point scale on the following three categories:

  • Activity within Wikimedia projects (weight: 50%)
  • Activity outside Wikimedia (weight: 15%)
  • Future goals for participating in Wikimedia movement (weight: 35%)

For full definitions of these scoring groups, see 2012 Wikimania Scholarships Selection Criteria.

Region WMF - full WMF - partial Chapter Accepted avg None Applicant average
Europe 3.7 3.5 2.8 3.0 2.6 2.7
Asia-Pacific 3.2 3.1 3.7 3.2 2.2 2.4
Latin America 3.3 2.8 0.0 3.2 2.3 2.6
North America 3.2 3.1 3.0 3.1 2.2 2.4
MENA 2.9 3.2 3.1 3.0 2.1 2.3
CIS 2.9 2.3 2.6 2.7 2.2 2.3
Africa 2.7 2.7 0.0 2.7 2.0 2.3
Total 3.1 3.1 2.8 3.0 2.2 2.5

†These averages are only for the 606 applications which made it to the 2nd round. The additional ~500 applications included both spam, blank applications, and some applications which were guaranteed to receive scholarships. The goal of filtering for the first round was to lighten the workload for the scholarship committee in round 2 which received score reviews.

WMF Full Scholarship Acceptance

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Asia & Pacific, South/Latin America, and CIS had the highest number of declines. The primary reason for declining the scholarship was visa/passport constraints. Visa for Washington D.C. were a problem everywhere outside of North America and Europe.

Assessment

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While the scholarships outcomes were good, there were three fundamental issues that arose, which you can find a more detailed expose of in Scholarships Proposals. The top things that are immediately in need of change:

Non-transparent process Difficulty selecting right mix of scholars Frustrating communication High decline rates of recipients
  • Selection criteria not clear
  • Selection Criteria not effective
  • No coordination with program team
  • Too short of a timeline
  • Scores not announced
  • Low involvement of scholarship review committee
  • Chapters not coordinating across teams
  • Visa complications
  • No communication between application and announcement
  • Limited resources to send all qualified applicants
  • Partial Scholars unable to afford remainder

While many little tweaks can and should be made, the most high-impact ones of focus should be:

  1. Formation of scholarship committee; increase # of representatives and create 2-year terms.
  2. Communicate with applicants at various stages in the application process
  3. Post the average scores from the regions upon announcement of the results
  4. Limit WMF scholarship funding to applicants who do not qualify for Chapters Scholarships

Notes

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  • The acceptance/awarded numbers do NOT indicate those who actually attended Wikimania
  • The acceptance numbers DO include those five individuals who were placed on the Waitlist for WMF scholarships, as all of them were offered scholarships eventually
  • The individual names are not able to be announced, as the scholars for this year did not agree to have their identities disclosed. Next year, we are considering adding this into the acceptance process. (See Discussion on Scholarships)
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