A Mandela Rhodes Scholarship is a South African scholarship which provides funding for up to two years of postgraduate study, awarded by the Mandela Rhodes Foundation.
The Mandela Rhodes Foundation was announced in February 2002 when The Rhodes Trust, as part of its centenary celebrations, partnered with Nelson Mandela and pledged funding for the scholarship for 10 years. [1] Jakes Gerwel, chancellor of Rhodes University and Rhodes Trust CEO John Rowett hatched the idea. The Rhodes Trust wished to return some of Rhodes' wealth to South Africa and Africa "in a symbolic act of reconciliation and reparation". [2] It was determined that funding of £1 million would be provided annually to the foundation for the scholarships. Some past and present scholars raised a petition against the idea in 2003. [3]
The mission of the foundation, which was established in 2003, is to help build exceptional leadership capacity in Africa. Mandela's intention was to "close the circle of history" by utilising Cecil Rhodes' resources to address the inequalities that result from the legacies of colonialism and apartheid. The name of the foundation is intentionally provocative; "it is a call for the beneficiaries of colonialism to participate in and contribute to repairing the damage of colonial times and building a more just society". [2]
The first eight Mandela Rhodes Scholarships were awarded in 2005. [1] By 2024, 673 scholarships had been awarded to future leaders from 36 African countries. [2]
The award is open to all citizens of any African country under the age of 30 years and recipients must study towards Honours or master's degrees at recognised South African institutions. [4] Recipients of the Mandela Rhodes Scholarship are students with outstanding academic achievements who also possess leadership ability, entrepreneurial skills, and a commitment to reconciliation. [5]
The scholarships cover tuition, accommodation, meals, book allowance, general allowance, and travel expenses. [6] In addition to receiving funding for their studies, scholars also undertake a leadership development program while in residence. [7]
The Rhodes Scholarship is an international postgraduate award for students to study at the University of Oxford in Oxford, United Kingdom. The scholarship is open to men and women from all backgrounds around the world.
The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States cultural exchange programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people of the United States and other countries through the exchange of persons, knowledge, and skills. Via the program, competitively-selected American citizens including students, scholars, teachers, professionals, scientists, and artists may receive scholarships or grants to study, conduct research, teach, or exercise their talents abroad; and citizens of other countries may qualify to do the same in the United States.
Morehouse College is a private historically Black, men's, liberal arts college in Atlanta, Georgia. Anchored by its main campus of 61 acres (25 ha) near Downtown Atlanta, the college has a variety of residential dorms and academic buildings east of Ashview Heights. Along with Spelman College, Clark Atlanta University, and the Morehouse School of Medicine, the college is a member of the Atlanta University Center consortium.
The Gates Cambridge Scholarship is an international postgraduate award for students to study at the University of Cambridge. The scholarship is extremely competitive with around 1.3% of applicants receiving an award in recent years.
The Marshall Scholarship is a postgraduate scholarship for "intellectually distinguished young Americans [and] their country's future leaders" to study at any university in the United Kingdom. It is widely considered one of the most prestigious scholarships for U.S. citizens, and along with the Fulbright Scholarship, it is the only broadly available scholarship available to Americans to study at any university in the United Kingdom.
Rhodes University is a public research university located in Makhanda in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. It is one of four universities in the province.
The Churchill Scholarship is awarded by the Winston Churchill Foundation of the United States to graduates of the more than one hundred colleges and universities invited to participate in the Churchill Scholarship Program, for the pursuit of research and study in the physical and natural sciences, mathematics, engineering, for one year at Churchill College at the University of Cambridge.
John H. McCall MacBain is a Swiss-based, Canadian billionaire businessman and philanthropist who is the founder of the McCall MacBain Foundation and Pamoja Capital SA, its investment arm. Prior to establishing the McCall MacBain Foundation, in the late 1980s he bought Auto Hebdo magazine in Montréal, Canada and bought and consolidated hundreds of other existing Auto Traders and Buy and Sell classified papers and websites to form Trader Classified Media, the world's leading classified advertising company.
Robert Irwin Rotberg is an academic from the United States who served as President of the World Peace Foundation (1993–2010). A professor in governance and foreign affairs, he was director of the Program on Intrastate Conflict, Conflict Prevention, and Conflict Resolution at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government (1999–2010), and has served in administrative positions at Tufts University and Lafayette College.
The Institute for Citizens & Scholars is a nonpartisan, non-profit institution based in Princeton, New Jersey that says it aims to strengthen American democracy by "cultivating the talent, ideas, and networks that develop lifelong, effective citizens". It administers programs and fellowships that support civic education and engagement, leadership development, and organizational capacity in education and democracy.
Elleke Boehmer, FRSL, FRHistS is Professor of World Literature in English at the University of Oxford, and a Professorial Governing Body Fellow at Wolfson College. She is an acclaimed novelist and a founding figure in the field of Postcolonial Studies, internationally recognised for her research in colonial and postcolonial literature, history and theory. Her main areas of interest include the literature of empire and resistance to empire; sub-Saharan African and South Asian literatures; modernism; migration and diaspora; feminism, masculinity, and identity; nationalism; terrorism; J. M. Coetzee, Katherine Mansfield, and Nelson Mandela; and life writing.
Rhodes House is a building part of the University of Oxford in England. It is located on South Parks Road in central Oxford, and was built in memory of Cecil Rhodes, an alumnus of the university and a major benefactor. It is listed Grade II* on the National Heritage List for England.
John David Alexander CBE was an American academic who served as president of Pomona College during a period of time where he led a major expansion of the school, and served as US National Secretary for the Rhodes Trust, overseeing the selection process for recipients of the Rhodes Scholarship from the United States.
Schwarzman Scholars, founded by American financier and philanthropist Stephen A. Schwarzman, is a one-year fully-funded master's degree leadership program at Tsinghua University in Beijing, China. The program selects 100–200 scholars per year based on their leadership ability, academic achievement, and commitment to advancing mutual cultural understanding and global progress. Selected scholars pursue a one-year master's degree in global affairs at Tsinghua University, residing at Schwarzman College.
Charles R. Conn is a Canadian and American CEO, conservationist and author. In 2021 he co-founded and is partner of Monograph, a life sciences venture firm. In 2019 he was the CEO of Oxford Sciences Innovation. Previously, he was the warden and global CEO of Rhodes House and the Rhodes Trust, the organization responsible for administering the Rhodes Scholarship from 2013 to 2018.
Daniel Trust Foundation is a youth development non-profit organization founded by Daniel Trust. It was launched in 2009 and provides mentorship and scholarship opportunities to high school seniors and student-selected recognition and funding for high school teachers. The foundation has offices in Bridgeport, Connecticut and New York City, and aims to be a student run organization for students by students.
John Rowett is a British historian, academic, and academic administrator.
Elliot Francis Gerson is an American nonprofit executive, lawyer, business executive, state and federal government official, American Secretary of The Rhodes Trust, currently serving as the executive vice president of The Aspen Institute.
Maryana Iskander is an Egyptian-born American social entrepreneur and lawyer. In 2022, she became the chief executive officer (CEO) of the Wikimedia Foundation, succeeding Katherine Maher. Prior to her position, Iskander was the CEO of the Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator and a former chief operating officer of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America in New York.
The Jefferson Scholarship is a merit scholarship that provides four years of fully funded study at the University of Virginia in the United States. Considered one of the world's most prestigious, the scholarship covers tuition and room and board, and also provides money for summer travel, independent research, and study abroad. Application to the scholarship is by invitation only. Around 30 "Scholars" are selected annually from some 6,000 schools who may each nominate one student. Scholars have included 23 Rhodes Scholars and Marshall Scholars, Olympians, Pulitzer Prize winners, and others.