University

31 Mar 09

Oxford is celebrating fifty years of Commonwealth Scholarships

Oxford will tonight celebrate 50 years of Commonwealth Scholarships, which have brought talented students from across Commonwealth countries to study at Oxford.

Tonight at 5.30pm in the Sheldonian Theatre the role of the Commonwealth in higher education will be discussed by a panel chaired by the Rt Hon Lord Patten of Barnes, CH, Chancellor of the University of Oxford, and including His Excellency Mr Kamalesh Sharma, The Commonwealth Secretary-General; Sir David King, Director of Oxford’s Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment; Dr Nicola Brewer, Chief Executive of the Commission for Equality & Human Rights; and Ms Naledi Pandor, Minister of Education, South Africa. The debate is part of a two-day conference on the subject of the Commonwealth and education, taking place in Oxford on 31 March and 1 April.

Last year Oxford lobbied the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office not to cut the Commonwealth scholarships as had been planned, and four universities, including Oxford, agreed to part-fund scholarships in conjunction with the Department of Innovation, Universities, and Skills, resulting in some support being restored.

'I can tell you from personal experience that it makes a great difference, as you engage in delicate diplomatic relationships around the world, to be able to rely on the personal and trans-national connections generated by scholarship programmes like this one,' said Lord Patten. 'There are many uncertainties about what the 21st century holds for all of us across the Commonwealth, but a bright future for the Commonwealth Scholarships should not be one of them.'

Commonwealth Scholarships offer opportunities to Commonwealth citizens to study in the UK and to identify UK citizens to study overseas. They were founded at the first Conference of Commonwealth Education Ministers, held in Oxford in 1959.

The Commonwealth Scholarship and Fellowship Programme has enabled more than 25,000 talented citizens of Commonwealth countries to study in another Commonwealth country.

Oxford has welcomed 1,102 of them. Among them were the current Governor of the Bank of Canada, the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Sydney, the Deputy Dean of Outreach at the University of West Indies, and the Deputy Secretary in the Ministry of Health in Pakistan.

Tonight’s debate will cover much wider issues than funding to study in the UK. Panellists will discuss questions such as: What are the major achievements of higher education in the Commonwealth in the past 50 years? What are the main challenges for the next half century? With many development goals still to meet in primary and secondary education throughout much of the Commonwealth, how important is higher education? What implications does the economic crisis have for our aspirations? In a world where the USA has more top universities than any other country, and where countries like China are investing seriously in higher education, what is the ongoing relevance of the Commonwealth to its members as they face challenges in higher education?

As well as the 50th anniversary of the Commonwealth Scholarships, 2009 is the 60th anniversary of the Commonwealth. 26 April 2009 marks 60 years since the London Declaration, when the modern Commonwealth was born.