1. Evaluation of Kusuma-LSE Seminar “ Transforming Lives Through Education”
The Kusuma Trust and the London School of Economics (LSE) jointly hosted a half-day seminar on
December 1, 2011 with support from Kusuma Foundation. The purpose of the seminar was to discuss
key developments and challenges in secondary education in India, with a focus on the role and impact of
scholarships on education outcomes.
The seminar included a discussion of the findings of an impact evaluation of scholarships funded by the
Kusuma Trust UK over the last three years and presentations on the experiences of three other major
scholarship funders in India. The seminar provided an opportunity to hear the experiences of
scholarship recipients and NGO partners managing these scholarship programmes. The seminar also
provided an overview of the new strategy and grant making of The Kusuma Trust UK in India.
Kusuma Foundation conducted an evaluation of the seminar and the key findings are presented below.
Sixty registered participants attended the seminar and nineteen participants provided their feedback.
Overall satisfaction with the seminar’s organisation and facilities was high with 53 per cent reporting
they were very satisfied and 42 per cent reporting they were satisfied with the seminar’s organisation
and facilities.
Overall satisfaction with the seminar
100
organisation and facilities including
registration process
80
53
60
42
40
20
5
0
0
0
Percent
The vast majority (84 per cent) felt that the duration of the seminar was just about right, although 16
per cent felt it was too short and more time should have been allocated for the sessions.
Opinion about duration of the seminar
100
84
80
60
40
16
Percent
20
0
0
Too
Long
Too
Short
Just
about
right

2. All respondents agreed that sessions were appropriate and informative.
Content of the seminar sessions was
appropriate and informative
100
74
80
60
40
26
Percent
20
0
0
0
0
Strongly
Disagree
Agree
Strongly
Not
sure
Disagree
Agree
Participants were also requested to rate the main sessions on a scale of 1-5, where 1 is least useful and
5 is most useful. It is heartening to note that all the sessions found favour with the audience.
Rating of Main Sessions
Title of Session Score Percent
Transforming lives through Education 72 76
Secondary Education in India 69 73
Impact of Kusuma Fellowships 71 75
Scholarship Programmes in India 67 71
Perspectives from the Field 71 75
All respondents reported that they would attend similar seminars organized by Kusuma in future. The
major highlights of the seminar as reported by participants include: experience sharing by the Fellows;
overview of national and international fellowship programmes; and presentations from experts like Dr.
Sunil Batra, Dr. Sandra Sequeira and Dr. Balwant Singh.
Several suggestions to improve future seminars include: full day seminars so that more Fellows can
participate and share their experiences and the benefits they are deriving from the fellowships, and
more time for discussions about the impact of fellowship programmes and clarifications.
Prepared by:
Sourabh Chakraborty
Research & Evaluation Manager