43rd Annual Report - Commonwealth Scholarship Commission in ...

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CSFP & THE COMMONWEALTHThe Commission is acutely aware that its work forms part of the internationalCommonwealth Scholarship and Fellowship Plan. Many of our activities during theyear have aimed to strengthen this international aspect.Bringing People TogetherAlthough the CSFP has been one of the largest award schemes in the world for manyyears, it has not always been amongst the most accessible. One reason for this hasbeen its bilateral nature. Decisions on whether to host awards, and if so who to offerthem to, are made and publicised by each individual country. Historically, details ofthese have not been brought together in a single place.Cathy Jamieson, Scottish Minister forEducation and Young People with twoCommonwealth Students at the launchparty for the forthcoming EducationMinisters ConferenceFor this reason, the 14th Conference of Commonwealth Education Ministers in 2000proposed the creation of a central CSFP web site. Thanks to a grant from the UKForeign and Commonwealth Office, this project has come to fruition during the year.Its design has been an immense task, involving information on selection methods andcriteria from over 40 countries, as well as the awards offered by 14 host nations. Inmany cases, application forms are downloadable directly from the site.In addition to details about specific opportunities, the site contains backgroundinformation on the Plan and its history, and a section for alumni to keep in touch. TheUK section, which also serves as the official Commission web site, includes regularupdates of our work with award holders, past annual reports and links to other majorscholarship schemes in the UK.This site was officially opened in September, and had already attracted over 19,000visits within the first six months. It can be accessed at www.csfp-online.org.Commonwealth Secretary General, DonMcKinnon, views the new CSFP websitefor himselfDeveloping the Commonwealth ConnectionAward holders are acutely aware of the Commonwealth nature of their awards, andevery effort is made to involve them in Commonwealth related activities. Forinstance, a delegation of students is invited each year to attend the annualCommonwealth Day service, held each March in Westminster Abbey in the presenceof Her Majesty the Queen. Other award holders have attended events staged by theCouncil for Education in the Commonwealth.This year, the Commonwealth connection will be more important than ever. The 15thConference of Commonwealth Education Ministers (CCEM), scheduled for Edinburghin October 2003, will be the first such conference in the United Kingdom since thefirst meeting in 1959 – the meeting responsible for establishing CommonwealthScholarships!The Commonwealth Institute – venue forthe 2002 Welcome programmePlans are already afoot to ensure that award holders in the UK play an important partin the event. They were represented at the official launch of the conferencepreparations, and hope to play an important role in the Youth Forum being planned torun alongside the main conference. The Commission has already been asked tonominate a representative to the Forum organising committee.During the year, also, discussions took place with the Commonwealth Secretariat tofind ways in which the ‘Commonwealth connection’ could become even morepermanent. These have since led to the establishment of a regular ‘focus group’ toidentify future opportunities for joint events and publicity, and to the possibility thatalumni could be used more systematically as a source of advice for future planning. Ineach case, there is a recognition that education programmes such as the CSFP, byintroducing highly talented young people to the Commonwealth, can play a vital rolein securing its future relevance.CSC Annual Report page 14
OUTWARD SCHOLARSHIPSThe Commonwealth Scholarship and Fellowship Plan was established as a bi-partisanprogramme, under which governments of Commonwealth countries offered awards tocitizens of others. In recent years, the Commission has been working to increase therange of opportunities for UK students overseas.Over twenty countries have offered Commonwealth Scholarships since the schemewas established in 1959. In some cases, the awards are restricted to certain countriesonly, to particular regions or to ‘developing’ Commonwealth countries, although about1,000 British citizens have also benefited. In many cases, awards have been inunusual destinations for which few other scholarships are available.During the 1990’s, the number of awards to UK citizens declined; recent years haveseen the start of a reversal of this trend. A particular highlight of 2002 was ournomination of the first UK scholarship holders in Australia for several years. This wasthe result of an initiative by several individual universities – Curtin University ofTechnology, University of Queensland, Victoria University, Macquarie University andSwinburne University of Technology – co-ordinated by IDP Australia. TheCommission is extremely grateful for their support. We also remain grateful touniversities in New Zealand, who have continued to offer awards to UK citizens inrecent years, supplementing the government-funded awards to developing countries.Britain’s first ever nomination for a CommonwealthScholarship in the Cameroon, Chloe Smythe, meetsCameroon’s Minister of Higher Education,Professor Maurice Tcheunte (left) and Mr KitsMbeboh, from the Cameroon High Commission inLondonThe number of awards offered by Canada also increased during 2002, although severalof these were not taken up. The UK candidate for the first ever CommonwealthScholarship in South Africa, at the University of Natal, also withdrew after an offerhad been made, but the scholarship has been held over until 2003, as has the first everscholarship in Cameroon. We are confident that nominations will be made in bothcategories. Another welcome addition to the list was Nigeria, which offered awardsfor the first time since 1995.There are further encouraging signs for the future. Since the 2002 selections, theCommission has been invited to nominate candidates for Ghana for the first time inmany years. We have also heard that Mauritius, too, has awarded its firstCommonwealth Scholarship – to a citizen of Tanzania. In the United Kingdom wehave made our first nomination for several years to Brunei at the end of the year.Other countries known to be supporting awards in the wider CSFP include Jamaica,India, Malaysia and Trinidad and Tobago.Whilst our primary objective remains offering awards to overseas award holders in theUnited Kingdom, the Commission believes that the wider CSFP offers exceptionalpotential to improve international understanding, often in regions not commonlythought of for study by British students. We hope that the welcome increase in suchawards will continue in future.Outward scholarships 2002Nominations Nominations Awards Awards Awards takensoughtmade notified accepted up 2001Australia 6 5 5 3 0Cameroon 2 0 0 0 0Canada 14 14 12 5 3India 2 1 1 * 1Jamaica 1 0 0 0 0New Zealand 10 8 3 2 4Nigeria 9 1 * * 0South Africa 1 1 1 0 0Professor Babalola Borishade, Nigeria’s FederalMinister of Education, discusses last year’s CSCAnnual Report with ACU Secretary GeneralMichael Gibbons. Nigeria has recently decided tooffer Commonwealth Scholarships for the first timesince 1995.*Outcome pendingCSC Annual Report page 15
Page 1: 42nd Annual Reportto the Secretaryo
Page 8 and 9: ACADEMIC STAFF SCHOLARSHIPSAcademic
Page 10 and 11: SPLIT-SITE DOCTORATESSplit-Site Doc
Page 12 and 13: DISTANCE LEARNING SCHOLARSHIPS2002
Page 14 and 15: CSFP ALUMNI: DEVELOPING THE NETWORK
Page 18 and 19: PERFORMANCE INDICATORSCommission su
Page 20 and 21: 2003 SELECTIONSScholars and Fellows
Page 22 and 23: CSFP PEOPLE...One of the biggest ar
Page 24 and 25: 2002 AWARDS: NOMINATIONS AND SELECT
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Page 34 and 35: COMMONWEALTH ACADEMIC STAFF SCHOLAR
Page 36 and 37: COMMISSION FINANCESDistribution of
Page 38 and 39: CSFP PEOPLE: QUALIFICATIONS AWARDED
Page 40 and 41: CSFP PEOPLE: QUALIFICATIONS AWARDED
Page 42 and 43: CSFP PEOPLE: PANEL OF ADVISERS 2001
Page 44 and 45: HOW TO APPLYApplications for Genera
Page 46 and 47: HOW TO APPLYPAPUA NEW GUINEASecreta
Page 48: Executive SecretaryCommonwealth Sch

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