Oxford and Africa
Oxford has a long-standing history of educating some of Africa’s brightest minds and outstanding individuals. For several centuries the University’s students and academics have been active in African affairs. Today, Oxford’s African Studies Centre is one of the world's leading centres for the study of Africa addressing challenges facing the continent from across disciplines.
Particularly popular programmes with African graduate students are programmes in the areas of:
Popular Programmes
Business and Finance
Social Sciences
- MSc in African Studies
- Bachelor of Civil Law
- Master of Public Policy
- DPhil in International Development
Sciences
There are more than 260 African students currently studying at Oxford, over 230 of whom are graduate students, representing 27 different African countries. Our students are drawn from diverse social and educational backgrounds and have access to first-rate collections of manuscripts and books in the University’s rich range of library resources including the 400 year old Bodleian, as well as departmental and college libraries.
Rhodes Scholarships
A number of Rhodes Scholars are selected each year from Southern Africa (including South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Namibia and Swaziland), Zambia, Zimbabwe and Kenya. This scholarship is awarded on the basis of exceptional intellect, character and leadership skills and scholars have gone on to pursue a variety of career paths in public services, academia, business, law and medicine.
Oxford’s MSc African Studies
The University of Oxford is one of the world's leading centres for African Studies. Alongside vibrant doctoral programmes, the MSc in African Studies (founded in 2006) is recognised as Europe's most successful training programme in its field, providing an intensive interdisciplinary introduction to current debates about Africa.
Oxford University Press
Oxford University Press (OUP) is a department of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, publishing in multiple academic fields with offices all over the globe, including its publishing branches in Kenya, Tanzania, and Southern Africa, with offices or agents in many more African countries. Its activities help to further the University’s objective of excellent in research, scholarship and education.
KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme
Since 1989, more than 500 staff at the Oxford-KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme in Nairobi and Kenya - part of the Oxford Centre for Tropical Medicine - have been conducting cutting edge research into malaria and other tropical diseases.
Main photograph by Joseph Caruana, DPhil Astrophysics (Christ Church College)