Rhodes Scholarship for West Africa

Application Deadline: 23:59 Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), Sunday, 30 September 2018.

In conjunction with the Oxford-Morland-West Africa Graduate Scholarship

West Africa includes: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, the island of Saint Helena, Senegal, Sierra Leone, São Tomé and Principe and Togo.

There is one Rhodes Scholarship for West Africa each year. The Scholarship for West Africa was announced in 2017 and the first Scholar will arrive in October 2018. There had previously been Scholarships for certain countries within this grouping, including Nigeria and Ghana.

The Rhodes Scholarship programme is the oldest (established 1903), and perhaps the most prestigious, international scholarship programme in the world. Administered by the Rhodes Trust in Oxford, the programme offers more than 100 fully-funded Scholarships each year

for postgraduate study at the University of Oxford in the UK- one of the world’s leading universities.

Selection Committees for the Scholarships are looking for young leaders of outstanding intellect and character who are motivated to engage with global challenges, committed to the service of others and show promise of becoming value-driven, principled leaders for the world’s future. The Selection Committees are looking for the following:

• academic excellence (e.g. First Class Honours or GPA of minimum 3.7/4.0, or equivalent).

energy to use your talents to the full (as demonstrated by mastery in areas such as sports, music, debate, dance, theatre, and artistic pursuits, particularly where teamwork is involved)
truth, courage, devotion to duty, sympathy for and protection of the weak, kindliness, unselfishness and fellowship

• moral force of character and instincts to lead, and to take an interest in your fellow human beings

Eligibility Criteria:

• energy to use your talents to the full (as demonstrated by mastery in areas such as sports, music, debate, dance, theatre, and artistic pursuits, particularly where teamwork is involved)

• truth, courage, devotion to duty, sympathy for and protection of the weak, kindliness, unselfishness and fellowship

• moral force of character and instincts to lead, and to take an interest in your fel low human beings.

Eligibility Criteria

a. Nationality/citizenship:

You must be a citizen of one of the following countries:

b. Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, the island of Saint Helena, Senegal, Sierra Leone, São Tomé and Principe and Togo.

c. Education/residency: You must have been resident in one or more of the countries listed above for at least five of the last ten years.

d. Age:

You must have reached your 19th and not have passed your 26th birthday on 1 October 2019. This means candidates must have been born after 30 September 1993 and on or before 1 October 2000.

e. Academic achievement:

You must have completed an undergraduate degree from a college or university

(normally a Bachelor’s degree) with the highest classification your University awards, e.g. First Class or Upper Second Class Honours, or a Distinction in the case of Medicine, Dentistry and Pharmacy courses.

f. English language: You must have a sufficiently high standard of English to meet the English language proficiency requirements (at the Higher Level listed) of the University of Oxford.

Application Procedure

You can apply online from 01 June 2018 at http://www.rhodeshouse.ox.ac.uk via the scholarships tab.
You must submit your application online, with all supporting documents, by 23:59 Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), Sunday, 30 September 2018.
In preparation for making your application, you should read carefully the general information for candidates on the Rhodes website, the Conditions of Tenure for the Rhodes Scholarship, the information in this document and the graduate admissions pages of the University of Oxford: www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/graduate.
Shortlisted candidates will be invited to a social reception (e.g. a lunch or dinner reception) and an interview. No candidate will be selected without interview. You must be available to attend the interview and social reception,in person, as no accommodations can be made on date and time of these events. Interviews will be held in Lagos, on a Saturday between mid- November and early December, with a Dinner with the Selection Committee on thepreceding evening. Overnight accommodation will be provided if necessary. Travel expenses are not normally provided. However, candidates who need to travel to the interview location from their country of origin within the West Africa region, may apply to the National Secretary for financial assistance to travel.
All applicants will be emailed with the outcome of their application.

Documents:

National Secretary: Mr Ike Chioke

Strategic Adviser for West Africa: Mr Topé Folarin

Email: [email protected]

For More Information:

Visit the Official Webpage of the Rhodes Scholarship for West Africa

Eligibility criteria for the Rhodes Scholarship

The following eligibility criteria apply to all applicants for the Rhodes Scholarships:

Citizenship & residency: Each applicant must fulfil the citizenship and residency requirements of the Rhodes constituency for which they are applying. Please check the detailed information carefully via the country links.

Age: Age limits vary between constituencies and range from a minimum age limit of 18 to a maximum of 28 by 1 October of the year following selection. In most constituencies, the age limit is 24 or 25. Please check carefully the specific age requirements for your constituency before applying. Successful candidates will arrive in Oxford the October following the selection process. The Scholarship may not normally be deferred.

Education: All applicants must have achieved academic standing sufficiently advanced to assure completion of a bachelor’s degree by the October following election. Academic standing must be sufficiently high to ensure admission to the University of Oxford, which has very competitive entry requirements, and to give confidence that Rhodes Scholars will perform to a high academic standard in Oxford. Individual constituencies may specify a 1st or equivalent. Some constituencies require an undergraduate degree to have been taken within the constituency of application.

Rhodes selection criteria

The selection criteria govern selection across all Scholarship constituencies. They are:

literary and scholastic attainments

energy to use one’s talents to the full

truth, courage, devotion to duty, sympathy for and protection of the weak, kindliness, unselfishness and fellowship

moral force of character and instincts to lead, and to take an interest in one’s fellow beings.

Selection in each Rhodes constituency is by committees comprised of Rhodes alumni and distinguished non-Scholar members of the community. In general, committees will select applicants of outstanding intellect, character, leadership, and commitment to service.

Scholarship Worth:

A Rhodes Scholarship covers:

All University and College fees;

The University application fee;

A personal stipend which is fixed by the Trustees (£13,658 per annum 2014-15);

One economy class airfare to Oxford at the start of the scholarship and one economy flight back to the student’s home country at the conclusion of the scholarship.

Application process

1. Application to the Scholarship:
Applications for Rhodes Scholarships open during the spring and summer of the preceding year.
All candidates for the Scholarship should read the information about the Scholarships applicable globally, and then proceed to their country-specific page. Online application is not available for applicants to New Zealand. Please refer to the relevant country page: New Zealand.
In broad terms, all constituencies will require the following materials in differing forms:

Evidence of academic record / transcript (complete or in progress) of undergraduate degree and any postgraduate study

Curriculum vitae/resumé or list of principal activities

Personal statement or essay (including, crucially, a clear statement of what the applicant wishes to study at Oxford and why)

Evidence of age / birth certificate / passport

English Language proficiency (where English is not the first language)

Photograph

List of referees (usually several are required) who can attest in confidential references to the character and intellect of the applicant, including academic, personal, extra-curricular and leadership achievements (and who should never include people to whom you are related)

For More Information:

Rhodes West Africa Scholarship 2018/2019 for study in the University of Oxford (Fully Funded)

In conjunction with the Oxford-Morland-West Africa Graduate Scholarship

2016/2017 Rhodes Trust Scholarships for study in the University of Oxford, United Kingdom (Fully Funded)

Eligibility criteria for the Rhodes Scholarship

Application process