Deadline: March 25, 2018
Applications are invited for the Skoll Scholarship 2018. The Skoll Scholarship is a competitive scholarship for incoming MBA students to the University of Oxford who pursue entrepreneurial solutions for urgent social and environmental challenges. The Scholarship provides funding and exclusive opportunities to meet with world-renowned entrepreneurs, thought leaders, and investors.
The Skoll Scholarship provides tuition for entrepreneurs who have set up or have been working in entrepreneurial initiatives with a social purpose or who have pursued an impact career, and who wish to improve their knowledge of market-oriented practices so they can be more effective in their subsequent social change pursuits.
The Scholarship is given in recognition that the MBA may represent a significant financial burden, particularly for those who have chosen to work in the social impact/innovation space rather than the purely commercial or public sectors.
Benefits
The Skoll Centre typically awards up to five Scholarships every year. The Scholarship is intended to cover the Oxford Saïd MBA course and college fees, which in 2018-19 will be £55,000. Additional funds of up to £8,000 are provided as a contribution towards living expenses, totalling an award of £63,000.
In addition to financial support, you will get the following:
- Receive exclusive opportunities to meet with world-renowned entrepreneurs, thought-leaders, and investors
- Take your social impact to the next level
- Gain professional leadership and business skills
- Become part of the Skoll Scholar community, a group of leaders who are positively impacting the world through innovation and systems change
Eligibility
To be eligible for the Skoll Scholarship, you must first be accepted onto the Oxford Saïd MBA programme, and meet the following criteria:
- Have started a new social venture or an initiative within an existing organisation, or pursued positive change as an impact career professional (i.e. someone who has used entrepreneurial approaches to address the same social/environmental issue with a clear core thread that unites his/her work) for preferably 3 years or longer by the time you apply for the MBA;
- Have demonstrated evidence of personal qualities strongly resonating with entrepreneurial leadership;
- Have demonstrated how a business education will help further your career goals;
- Have demonstrated need for financial support.
See the complete eligibility criteria.
Application
To apply for the Skoll Scholarship you first need to apply and be accepted onto the Saïd Business School’s MBA programme.
Follow these steps:
- Connect with Skoll to register your interest in the Scholarship and make sure you’re kept up to date with announcements about upcoming deadlines.
- Apply for the MBA programme directly to Saïd Business School. You’ll need to do this during stages 1 and 2 of the MBA admissions process for the 2018-19 academic year. All the information about the programme and relevant deadlines can be found here. If you know someone who you think could be a great Skoll Scholar, you can nominate a Scholarship candidate.
- Tick the “Skoll Scholarship” box when you submit your MBA application! You’ll find this under the “Scholarships” section of the application.
- The MBA admissions team will assess your application to ensure you meet the academic requirements sought by the Saïd Business School. Then, if you are accepted onto the MBA programme, you will be eligible to apply for the Skoll Scholarship.
- Once you’ve received confirmation that you have been accepted onto the MBA programme, keep an eye on your emails as the Skoll Centre will send you a link to the Scholarship online application. See timelines below to know when to expect this.
- Complete the Skoll Scholarship online application. This consists of a series of short essay questions asking about your experience as an entrepreneur, your social impact, and why you believe you are a strong candidate for the scholarship.
- That’s it! The Skoll Centre will then consider your candidacy for the Scholarship and advise you accordingly. If your written application is successful, you’ll be invited to join a Skype interview with the Skoll Scholarship Selection Committee. If you are successful after your skype interview, you will be invited to interview in person in Oxford. (Please see below for the steps and timelines of each interview stage; and please be aware you may be invited to further interviews if necessary.)
We encourage you to apply to the MBA as early as possible. If you have applied during stage 2, but the decision on your MBA application has been pushed back by the School’s Admissions Team you will need to let us know if you still want to be eligible for the Skoll Scholarship.
NOTE: Candidates must apply to the Oxford MBA programme during specific stages of the School’s application rounds to be considered for the Skoll Scholarship.
For more information, visit Skoll Scholarship.
