Complex sentence: Imperial governments provided pathways for selected nationals to pursue higher education based on the assumption that graduates would return to their homeland to serve colonial administration once they had developed skills and absorbed the values of the colonial rulers.
Split into simpler sentences: Imperial governments provided pathways for selected nationals to pursue higher education. The concept of study abroad was based on the assumption that graduates would return to their homeland to serve colonial administration once they had developed skills and absorbed the values of the colonial rulers.