The grants programme of the “la Caixa” Banking Foundation, which funds postgraduate studies, has been seen to have a major impact on the careers of beneficiaries, such as better working conditions and greater social and scientific relevance in their work. However, what circumstances condition which people apply for grants and which people obtain them?
In both cases, the determining factor is the academic excellence of the university students involved. However, when the academic records involved are similar, components such as gender and socioeconomic status also come into play. Women, and candidates from more disadvantaged families, are less likely to apply for these grants and, when they do apply, have fewer probabilities of obtaining them.
To identify the most relevant factors involved in making the decision to apply for a grant from the Foundation, as well as elements that help determine to whom grants are awarded, data were analysed from 15 grant calls published between the years 2014 and 2018 and corresponding to three different programmes based on destination (Spain, Europe or America-Asia). Furthermore, for analysis of the relevant factors in grant applications, data from the programme, which had nearly 10,000 applicants, were combined with information on nearly 57,000 students from the Universitat de Barcelona (UB) who obtained a qualification between 2009 and 2017. These data provided knowledge regarding the level of education of students’ parents, and that information was used for an approximation of the socioeconomic status of students’ families.