45th Annual Report (2003-2004) - Commonwealth Scholarship ...

Scholarships being made at this level. Some support for doctoralstudies is maintained, however, with the majority of Academic StaffScholarships made at this level and the maintenance of the Split-siteDoctoral Scholarship Scheme.GenderWhile positive discrimination is not employed, the Commission doesseek to encourage nominating agencies to consider gender balance inputting forward nominations. As can be seen in the table here, in mostschemes female candidates tend to do better than male at the UKselection stage. For example, in 2004 women made up 46% of thosenominated for all General Scholarships, and 49% of those selected bythe Commission for these awards. While this is slightly lower than in2003 (50%), figures for those funded by DFID have improved from 40%of nominations to 42%, and from 46% of selections to 49%. Acrossall schemes the representation of women is slightly lower this year at42% of selections, as opposed to 46% in 2003.This is influenced largelyby the Distance Learning Scheme for which the gender balance tends tofluctuate significantly each year depending on the programmes funded.Joint AwardsSixteen awards in 2004 were jointly funded by institutions in additionto 18 awards held in 2003-2004. Institutions usually contribute 85%of the tuition fees. The Commission is grateful to the Universities ofCambridge, Edinburgh, Nottingham, Oxford and the University CollegeLondon for their support.Shared Scholarship SchemeSince 2002, the Commission has assumed formal responsibility for theShared Scholarship Scheme. This scheme is funded through a partnershipbetween universities and government whereby the universitypays the full stipend for the scholar (sometimes in conjunction with anexternal sponsor) and the government covers the costs of return airfareand tuition fees. This scheme differs from the other CommonwealthScholarships in several ways. Selections are made by the UK institutionfor awards at taught postgraduate level only. Those working for parastatalorganisations or central government are excluded (this groupoften secures a disproportionate number of scholarships under otherschemes) and candidates must state that they would not be able tostudy in the UK without this support.Award holders are largely from sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia(94% of new awards in 2004 were from these regions) and tend to befrom countries towards the lower end of the United Nations HumanDevelopment Index. Awards tend to be concentrated on areas thathave a direct bearing on development, with science, engineering, law,social science, health and education being the most popular fields ofstudy.The scheme is open to all UK universities, but is oversubscribed byaround 50%. Universities wishing to offer awards are therefore invitedto bid each year with places allocated in January.Shared Scholarships by regionRegion Awards NewHeld % Awards %Sub-Saharan Africa 83 51 80 53South Asia 74 46 62 41Far East 1 1 2 1Caribbean 3 2 6 4Pacific 1 1 0 0Total 162 100 150 100Shared Scholarships by disciplineDiscipline Awards Held New AwardsArts 5 1Computer Studies 4 13Economics & Development Studies 8 13Education 3 4Engineering 21 21Finance and Administration 14 10Health 18 15International Relations 9 1Legal 10 17Renewable Natural Resources 7 6Science 37 32Social 26 17Total 162 150Annual Report 2003 - 2004 21