46th Annual Report - Commonwealth Scholarship Commission in ...

2005 AwardsThe 2004-05 academic year has seen a greater number of scholars and fellows on award than any previousyear. At 1090 the figure was 13% higher than scholars and fellows on award in 2003-04. This increase waspartly a result of the expansion in recent years of the Professional Fellowships and Distance Learningschemes, along with the maintenance of existing schemes.(The number of applications selected for awards by the Commission in 2005 showed a slight declinefrom previous years – from 646 in 2004 to 562. This decline was primarily concentrated on the AcademicFellowships (from 80 in 2004 to 67) and General Scholarships (from 271 in 2004 to 229)), and largelyreflected increased continuer costs from previous years.The Shared Scholarship Scheme contributed 157 additional awards held during 2004-05, and 144 newawards in 2005.On award 2004-2005ScemeNo.General 442CASS 91Fellowships 72Split-site 50Professional Fellowships 55Distance Learning 380Total 1090Awards by regionRegion Awards Held New AwardsSub-Saharan Africa 580 255South Asia 322 155Far East 12 5Australia/NZ 68 24Pacific 10 6Caribbean 47 26North America (Canada) 44 25Europe 7 1Total 1090 4972005 awards: DFID funded General Scholarships by regionRegion Target% Actual%Sub-Saharan Africa 50 53South Asia 30 27Other 20 192005 Awards: Scholarships by levelScheme Masters % Doctorate %FCO fundedGeneral Scholarships 63 37DFID fundedGeneral Scholarships 62 38CASS 0 100Total 54 46RegionThe 2005 intake originates from forty-one commonwealthcountries (see pages 28 and 29). The regionaldistribution of awards for all schemes is shown in thetable on the left. The Commission does not allocatespecific numbers of awards to individual countries,since it seeks to encourage open competition betweencandidates. However, certain schemes tend tofocus on particular developing regions and countries,such as the Academic Staff Scholarships, which areconcentrated on universities in sub-Saharan Africaand in countries in the lower-third of the UnitedNations Human Development Index. Distance Learning,Split-site Doctorates, and Academic and ProfessionalFellowships are similarly concentrated on particulardeveloping regions and countries. While GeneralScholarships are open to all countries, broad regionaltargets are employed for those funded by the Departmentfor International Development (DFID). This year,targets were closely met with 53% of selections fromsub-Saharan Africa (compared to 57% in 2004),27% from South Asia (compared to 29% in 2004),and 19% for the smaller ‘other’ regions, comprisingthe Pacific, Caribbean, Europe and East Asia (comparedto 14% in 2004).Level of StudyIn recent years the Commission has reduced itsemphasis on doctoral degrees for General Scholarships,setting a target of 60:40 for taught and researchprovision. This year, targets were closely met with62% of General Scholarships being awarded for taughtcourses, and 38% for doctorates. We do, however,remain committed to retaining doctorates in ourportfolio of awards for the foreseeable future.18 Commonwealth Scholarship Commission