Beauty Related Graduate Fields Activation Methods for International Students

In order to seek activation methods for beauty related graduate level international students, this research was conducted by analyzing the current status of graduate level beauty departments and conducting focus group interviews (FGI) in two separate groups: 8 professors and 12 international students from 7 different graduate schools and the results are as follows. In 2020, current count of active beauty related graduate level departments are 74, with 298 international students representing 29 graduate schools. The biggest motivation for international students attending beauty related graduate school was to become a beauty professional through self development, thus preparing themselves to become a competitive candidate in the job market. The familiarity between the student and professor and department affinity influenced students decision to attend graduate school. Most of the students experienced challenges due to language barriers, and responded that having mentors, assistants and professors speaking their native language would be needed. The recognition of merit scholarships, visa and career continuation policies were low amongst international students. Therefore, in order to further activate and promote beauty related graduate level programs, the needs of international students have to be met by increasing the number of hands-on classes following the latest trends, career continuation programs and opportunities to increase familiarity amongst professors and students. In addition, language programs support, native class assistants and upperclassmen mentorship have to be inter-connected to increase class understanding. At the same time, subsidizing Korean level test and supporting the test process have to be further monitored and promoted to ensure diversified support reaches the international students. With such efforts, beauty related graduate programs will be able to recruit more international students and help the operation of the university while help build more international relationships.

Merit-Based Scholarships and Student Effort

Twenty-one states offer merit scholarships that require students to maintain a minimum grade point average (GPA). Using a comprehensive administrative database from Clemson University, this study estimates the relationship between the incentives created by a South Carolina merit scholarship (LIFE) and students' academic performance. I hypothesize that being at risk of gaining or losing this scholarship will lead to increased effort and, as a consequence, higher grades. The results suggest that the incentives created by the scholarship increase GPAs by as much as 0.101 on a four-point scale, controlling for student and course characteristics. Moreover, the results indicate that for men the relationship between the risk of gaining or losing the scholarship and grades is large and statistically significant; for women, however, there is little evidence that the scholarship is related to grades.