Fully Funded Rhodes Scholarship for West Africans, 2019
ABOUT
Our mission is to identify and develop leaders to achieve public good. This is what the Rhodes Scholarships have done, with remarkable success, since its inception in 1903. 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.
COUNTRIES OF INTEREST
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.
ELIGIBILITY
a. Nationality/citizenship: You must be a citizen of one of the following countries: 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.
b. 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.
c. 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. For medical students and medical doctors the age limit is extended by up to one year to allow them to complete their internship - such candidates must have been born after 30 September 1992 and on or before 1 October 2000.
d. 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 Honors, or a Distinction in the case of Medicine, Dentistry and Pharmacy courses.
e. 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.
f. Given the very intense international competition for places at the University of Oxford, candidates (with the exception of those studying in Nigeria and Ghana, and, for some countries, those studying medicine) will have a greater chance of successful admission to Oxford if they have an Honors degree (or have taken an Honors year)
APPLICATION DOCUMENTS
a. One or more of the following documents to confirm that you meet the citizenship criterion (see 2a above), the residency criterion (see 2b above), and the age criterion (2d above):
b. i. A certified copy of your birth certificate (or an affidavit of birth)
c. ii. A National Identity Card
d. iii. A valid passport (with translation, if necessary)
e. An official transcript from the college or university at which you are studying, or have studied, showing grades achieved (to date).
f. Evidence of residency within the region for at least five of the last ten years, for example official school records. g. If English is not your first language you should upload evidence of English Language Proficiency (see the Eligibility Criteria above). You should upload a copy of a standardized English test that is recognised by the University of Oxford (e.g. TOEFL / IELTS) along with the test's marking scheme. Alternatively, you can upload a letter requesting a waiver to this requirement if you meet the University of Oxford's criteria for a waiver: www.graduate.ox.ac.uk/englishproficiency.
h. A full curriculum vitae which should include details about academic qualifications, prizes, scholarships, positions of leadership, employment positions, involvement in student, voluntary, community or political activities and any cultural, musical or sporting accomplishments. This should not exceed two pages of 12-point Times Roman font and should not include supporting documents. Please do not include a photograph in your CV. i. A head-and-shoulders color photograph (jpg format). Please note your photo will not be available to the selection committee until after final shortlisting decisions have been made.
j. A personal statement of no more than 1,000 words. The personal statement is your chance to tell your story in your own voice: Who are you? What matters to you? What are you hoping to do in the world? Your academic transcript, your curriculum vitae and your reference letters will provide the substantive detail of your commitments and accomplishments, but this essay gives you the opportunity to cast the overarching narrative for the selection committee.
