2016 Rhodes Scholarships for Southern Africans

Deadline: September 20, 2015(tentative)

Applications for the Rhodes Scholarships for 2016 for Southern Africa will open  in early to mid-June 2015.The Rhodes Scholarships are postgraduate awards supporting outstanding all-round students at the University of Oxford, and providing trans formative opportunities for exceptional individuals. This opportunity is open to applicants from South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Namibia and Swaziland. The Scholarships for these countries are administered from a regional secretariat based in Johannesburg.

There are:

• four Scholarships every year for applicants from South Africa-at-Large,
•  one for applicants from KwaZulu-Natal,
• one for applicants from Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Namibia and Swaziland, and
• one each for applicants of or from Diocesan College, Rondebosch; South African College School, Newlands; Paul Roos Gymnasium, Stellenbosch; and St Andrew’s College, Grahamstown (including their identified partner schools, which are listed here).

Eligibility

• 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:  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.  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.

Selection Criteria

The following criteria are  used in the election of Scholars:

• 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.

In short, Rhodes Scholarship selection committees will be seeking young women and men of outstanding intellect, character, leadership, and commitment to service.  The Rhodes Scholarships support students who demonstrate a strong propensity to emerge as ‘leaders for the world’s future’.

How to Apply

Visit Rhodes Scholarship to apply. Note that  Applications for the Rhodes Scholarships for 2016 for Southern Africa will open  in early to mid-June 2015.

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 visit Rhodes Scholarships or contact rhotrust@pixie.co.za