[awards-program] IMPT: Questions about Student Grants in your Country - PLS RESPOND ASAP

[Teresa Giacomini]

Hi everyone - *especially those of you who have NOT been participating 
in the daily calls*,

As you know, we are working away on a student grant program as part of 
the Open Source Community Innovation Awards.  We have realized that 
those of us on the team do not have the expertise we need to make a good 
decisions about the design of the program.  So, we need your help.  
Please take a minute and answer the questions below.

We were recently told that most universities only handle large grants.  
That is, they only get involved, and have the grant funds flow through 
the university machinery, if the grant is much larger than the grants we 
plan to give. (These awards will likely be $1-5K US.)  It was 
recommended to us that we grant the money directly to the student.

Additionally, one of the goals of the program is to begin a relationship 
with the faculty at the university or college.  We plan to have the 
student identify a faculty advisor, and have that advisor sign off on 
the grant proposal as well as the final research paper.

1.  In your country, is it typical, or even heard of, to pay a student 
directly for research?  Do you think paying the student will hinder our 
ability to build a relationship with the university?

2.  Is there a threshold for that, if the grant is less than that, the 
university will not be interested in having the grant flow through them?

3.  Will having the university involved delay/hinder the grant process 
or speed up/enhance the grant process?

4.  Our original plan was to follow this approximate timeline:

    Grant proposals accepted:  March 1 - April 1
    Grantees informed they are getting a grant:  April 15th
    Research Period:  April 15th - September 30th
    Grant payment:  August 15th (we can not pay out sooner)

    We are considering moving these dates out and paying the grant, or 
at least a
    portion of it up front (with August 15th being the earliest date 
for the first
    payment).  So our new schedule might look something like this:

    Grant proposals accepted:  March 1 - July 15th
    Grantees informed they are getting a grant:  August 1st
    Research Period:  August 15th - December 30th
    Grant payments based on milestones:  August 15th, October 31st, 
December 31st

    Would this change positively or negatively affect the participation 
of students
    and universities in your country (or ones you are familiar with)?

Thanks so much for taking the time to answer these questions.  If you 
can possibly do so *today* that would be AWESOME!

T