Move On Commonwealth Scholarships Welcomed

13 October 2008

Partial Restoration Of Commonwealth Scholarships Welcomed

Commonwealth Scholarships enabling students from developed Commonwealth countries such as New Zealand to study at top universities in the United Kingdom have been partially restored for 2009 following a recent decision by the UK Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills.

The development has been welcomed by Dr Charles Tustin who convenes the Scholarships Committee for the New Zealand universities’ representative body, the NZ Vice-Chancellors’ Committee.

Earlier this year the existing Commonwealth Scholarships Scheme for developed countries – which covered both masterate and doctoral study - was dropped following a decision by the UK Foreign Minister to cut £10 million of scholarships expenditure.

Strong representations were made by a group of prominent former Commonwealth Scholars and associated international interests to restore Commonwealth Scholarships for developed countries and this has now occurred, on a partial basis.

The awards for developed countries will now be for doctoral study only, and will be co-funded by UK universities. To date Cambridge, Edinburgh, Nottingham and Oxford universities have confirmed their participation.

As well as New Zealand, countries affected by the decision are Australia, the Bahamas, Brunei, Canada, Cyprus, Malta and Singapore.

ENDS

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