Skoll Scholarship to study at University of Oxford’s Saïd Business School 2019/20 (Fully-funded)

Deadline: January 11, 2019

Applications are open for the Skoll Scholarship to study at University of Oxford’s Saïd Business School 2019. 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 funding 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. It provides full funding plus a living stipend to complete a MBA at the University of Oxford’s Saïd Business School.

Benefits

• 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

The Skoll Scholarship covers the full costs of tuition and college fees for the MBA programme at Saïd Business School, University of Oxford. The Scholarship also covers partial living expenses of at least an additional £14,777.

In addition to financial support, the Scholarship provides access to the Skoll Scholar community, a group of leaders who are positively impacting the world through innovation and systems change, as well as exclusive opportunities to meet with world-renowned entrepreneurs, thought leaders, and investors.

Eligibility

• Entrepreneurial action
  • You have identified opportunities and taken action in order to make positive social impact
  • You have spent preferably at least 3 years driving change through entrepreneurial approaches. For example, you could have:
    • Started or grown a social venture
    • OR led the expansion of a social impact initiative within an organisation
    • OR been tackling a specific social/environmental issue, through a core thread that unites your work
• Creating impact with a focus on systems change
  • You can demonstrate the outcomes and impact of your entrepreneurial action
  • Your impact addresses unjust systems and practise in your area of work
• Personal qualities of a social entrepreneur
  • You are a force for positive change
  • You are single-minded and persistent, with a willingness to fail and start again
  • You have bias toward action
  • You have a tendency to explore your environment for opportunities and resources
  • You have a willingness to take personal, and sometimes financial, risks
  • You develop networks and leverage members to pursue mutual goals
  • You have apprenticed with the problem* or experienced the problem you are trying to solve
• The Oxford MBA is critical to your career trajectory
  • You can demonstrate why business education is essential in helping to develop your work/impact at this stage
• Financial need
• You are in a position where the cost of the programme is a significant financial burden
• You can demonstrate the need for the Scholarship (for example, due to previous work experiences or personal circumstances)

Application

To apply for the Skoll Scholarship follow these steps:

1. Connect with us to register your interest in the Scholarship and make sure you’re kept up to date with announcements about upcoming deadlines.
2. Apply for the MBA programme directly to Saïd Business School. You’ll need to do this during stages 1,2, or 3 of the MBA admissions process for the 2019-20 academic year.
3. Upload your answers to the Skoll Scholarship essay questions as part of your MBA application, and submit your MBA application! You’ll find the Scholarship essay questions under the “Funding” section of the MBA application. We would advise that you allow yourself about 1-week’s time to answer the Skoll Scholarship essay questions.
4. The MBA Admissions Team will then assess your application to ensure you meet the academic requirements sought by the Saïd Business School and determine if you are accepted onto the MBA programme or not.
5. If 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 second part of the Scholarship application, which is an online application. See timelines below to know when to expect this email.
6. Complete the Skoll Scholarship short online application. This consists of a series of short questions about you, how you heard about the Scholarship, your references, etc.
7. That’s it! The Skoll Centre will then consider your candidacy for the Scholarship and advise you accordingly.

What comes next?

1. If your written applications are successful, you’ll be invited to join a Skype interview with the Skoll Scholarship Selection Committee.
2. 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.)

You are encouraged to apply to the MBA as early as possible.

For more information, visit Skoll Scholarship.