The Commonwealth Scholarship and Fellowship Plan (CSFP) is an international programme under which
Commonwealth
A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. Historically, it has been synonymous with " republic". The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from th ...
governments offer scholarships and fellowships to citizens of other Commonwealth countries.
History
The plan was originally proposed by Canadian statesman Sidney Earle Smith in a speech in Montreal on 1 September 1958 and was established in 1959, at the first Conference of Commonwealth Education Ministers (CCEM) held in Oxford, Great Britain. Since then, over 25,000 individuals have held awards, hosted by over twenty countries. The CSFP is one of the primary mechanisms of pan-Commonwealth exchange.
Organisation
There is no central body which manages the CSFP. Instead, participation is based on a series of bi-lateral arrangements between home and host countries. The participation of each country is organised by a national nominating agency, which is responsible for advertising awards applicable to their own country and making nominations to host countries.
In the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
, which is the biggest contributor to the Plan, this process is managed by the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission in Britain, a
non-departmental public body
In the United Kingdom, non-departmental public body (NDPB) is a classification applied by the Cabinet Office, Treasury, the Scottish Government and the Northern Ireland Executive to public sector organisations that have a role in the process of ...
, and funded by the
Department for International Development
The Department for International Development (DFID) was a department of HM Government responsible for administering foreign aid from 1997 to 2020. The goal of the department was "to promote sustainable development and eliminate world poverty". D ...
. Since 2008, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office no longer contributes financially to the plan and the number and type of scholarships available for students from more developed Commonwealth countries (Australia, The Bahamas, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Cyprus, Malta, New Zealand, and Singapore) to study in Britain has been reduce Other countries, such as Australia, no longer offer scholarships as part of the CSFP.
New reforms were developed to strategically align scholarships with mutual interests for business and innovation between Commonwealth nations. During the state visit of President
Tony Tan
Tony Tan Keng Yam (; born 7 February 1940) is a Singaporean former politician who served as the seventh president of Singapore between 2011 and 2017. He did not seek for a second term as president in 2017 due to a constitutional amendment. ...
to the UK in October 2014, Her Majesty
Queen Elizabeth II
Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during ...
announced that the Royal Commonwealth Society of Singapore would be re-established to promote the Commonwealth and to provide new Commonwealth Scholarships and Fellowships in Innovation for Singaporeans. The first Commonwealth Scholarship and Fellowship for Innovation were presented in August 2017 t Joshua Cheong and Dr Khoo Hsien Hui by the Rt. Hon.
Sajid Javid
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.
Notable past Commonwealth Scholars and Fellows include
George Brandis
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Attorney-General of Australia
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*
Ross Cranston
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, Member of Parliament for Dudley North, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
*
Bill English
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, Prime Minister of New Zealand
* Babalola Borishade, Former Minister of Education, Aviation Nigeria
*
John Alexander Forrest
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, Member for Mallee, Australia
*
Leslie Gunawardana
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Early life and family
Gunawardana was born on 17 August 1938 in Tholangamuwa, Ceyl ...
, Former Minister of Science, Sri Lanka
*
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The daughter of Abdulla Hameed, ...
, Maldivian Minister of State
* Juma Athuman Kapuya, Minister of Labour, Employment and Youth Development
*
Kalombo Mwansa
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Kalombo Mwansa became Zambia's Defense Minister on July 9, 2009. He was previously the foreign minis ...
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* Satendra Nandan, Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Fiji
*
Rolph Payet
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, Seychellois Cabinet Minister
*
Kamla Persad-Bissessar
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, Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago
*
Carlos Simons Carlos W. Simons QC (born 8 October 1954) is a Turks and Caicos Islands lawyer and politician.
Career
SImons served on a four-member interim Advisory Council He from July 1986 to 3 March 1988 after two previous Chief Ministers were forced to resig ...
, Member, Interim Advisory Council, Turks and Caicos Islands
*
Abdullah Tarmugi
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Early life
Born to a Javanese father and a Chines ...
, Singaporean politician and MP
* Michael Tate, Minister for Justice, Australia
Patrick Keane
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Early life an ...
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*
Ross Cranston
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, Former Solicitor General of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
*
George W. Kanyeihamba
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Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales
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Government
* Mark Carney, Governor of the Bank of England
* Michael Omolewa, Permanent Delegate and Ambassador to UNESCO, Nigeria
* Carolyn McMaster, Canadian Deputy High Commissioner to New Zealand
*
Manumatavai Tupou-Roosen
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, Director General of the
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The Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA) is an intergovernmental agency established in 1979 to facilitate regional co-operation and co-ordination on fisheries policies between its member states in order to achieve conservation and optimum ...
University of Mysore
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,
Karnataka
Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act. Originally known as Mysore State , it was renamed ''Kar ...
*
Gunapala Amarasinghe
Amarasinghe Pathiranalage Gunapala Amarasinghe(Sinhala language, Sinhala: අමරසිංහ පතිරණලාගේ ගුණපාල අමරසිංහ ) is a Sri Lankan academic. He is a research scientist and a senior lecturer in A ...
University of Dhaka
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*
Richard Alexander Arnold
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Ishbel Campbell
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Biography
Campbell was born at The Manse, Kirkc ...
, British chemist researcher and lecturer. Held one of the first Commonwealth fellowships awarded to a woman.
* Robert M. Carter, Director of Australia's Secretariat for the Ocean Drilling Program
* Warrick Couch, astronomer, Director of the Australian Astronomical Observatory and President of the
Australian Institute of Physics
The Australian Institute of Physics was established in 1963, when it replaced the Australian Branch of the British Institute of Physics based in London.
.
*
John Gallas
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Biography
Gallas was born in Wellington in New Zealand ...
Germaine Greer
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Specializing in English and women's literatu ...
, Australian feminist author; former professor of English Literature and Comparative Studies at the University of Warwick
*
Robert Gavin Hampson
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, Professor of English, Royal Holloway, University of London.
*
Charles Jago
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He was born and raised in St. Catharines, Ontario. He received his BA in Honours English and History from the University of Western Ontario in London, Ontario in ...
, President of the University of Northern British Columbia
* Karuppannan Jaishankar, Professor of Criminology, Raksha Shakti University, India
* Abu Hena Mustafa Kamal, poet, songwriter & professor at
University of Dhaka
The University of Dhaka (also known as Dhaka University, or DU) is a public research university located in Dhaka, Bangladesh. It is the oldest university in Bangladesh. The university opened its doors to students on July 1st 1921. Currently i ...
* Will Kymlicka, Canada Research Chair in Political Philosophy, Queen's University at Kingston
* Nissim Mannathukkaren, Associate Professor, Dalhousie University Department of International Development Studies
* Angus McIntosh, Forbes Professor of English Language and General Linguistics, University of Edinburgh
*
Lynette Mitchell
Professor Lynette Gail Mitchell (born 1966) is Professor in Greek History and Politics at the University of Exeter. Mitchell is known for her work on ancient Greek politics and kingship.
Career
Mitchell obtained her BA at the University of N ...
, Professor in Greek History and Politics,
University of Exeter
, mottoeng = "We Follow the Light"
, established = 1838 - St Luke's College1855 - Exeter School of Art1863 - Exeter School of Science 1955 - University of Exeter (received royal charter)
, type = Public
, ...
*
Bridget Ogilvie
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Education
Ogilvie was born in 1938 at Glen Innes, New South Wales, Australia, to John Mylne and Margaret Beryl (née McRae) Ogilvie. During her prim ...
, Director of the Wellcome Trust
* Pratapaditya Pal, Curator-Emeritus and formerly, Curator, Los Angeles County Museum of Art
*
Peng Tsu Ann
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, Professor of Mathematics,
National University of Singapore
The National University of Singapore (NUS) is a national public research university in Singapore. Founded in 1905 as the Straits Settlements and Federated Malay States Government Medical School, NUS is the oldest autonomous university in th ...
* Raja Ramanna, chairman, Atomic Energy Commission of India
*
B. N. Suresh
Byrana Nagappa Suresh (born 12 November 1943) is an Indian aerospace scientist. He is presently the Chancellor, Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology (IIST) at Thiruvananthapuram and Honorary Distinguished Professor at ISRO HQ. He w ...
, Director,
Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre
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Lalji Singh
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, Director, Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad
*
Sheung-Wai Tam
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* Stephen Toope, President and Vice-Chancellor of the University of British Columbia
*
Sunil Kumar Verma
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*
Alexandra Walsham
Alexandra Marie Walsham (born 4 January 1966) is an English-Australian academic historian. She specialises in early modern Britain and in the impact of the Protestant Reformation, Protestant and Catholic Reformation, Catholic reformations. Sinc ...
, Professor of Modern History, University of Cambridge
* Fiona Williams, Professor of Social Policy, University of Leeds
* Kamta Prasad, former professor of economics, Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur
Journalists
* Edward Greenspon, Editor-in-Chief, ''The Globe and Mail'', Canada
*
Charles Krauthammer
Charles Krauthammer (; March 13, 1950 – June 21, 2018) was an American political columnist. A moderate liberal who turned independent conservative as a political pundit, Krauthammer won the Pulitzer Prize for his columns in ''The Washington ...
, Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist
* Chandan Mitra, Editor and managing director of ''The Pioneer'', New Delhi
Shyamaprasad
Shyamaprasad (born 7 November 1960) is an Indian filmmaker, screenwriter and actor from Kerala.
Career
Shyamaprasad was born on 7 November 1960 at Palakkad, as the younger son of O. Rajagopal and Santhakumari. He was named after Shyama Prasad ...
, Leading Indian (Malayalam) film Director, President, Amrita Television
The Red Elephant Foundation The Red Elephant Foundation is a youth-led civilian peacebuilding initiative that works for gender equality and peace through storytelling, art advocacy, tech-for-good and digital media engagement. The initiative was founded by Kirthi Jayakumar in C ...