The Marshall Aid Commemoration Commission is 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 ...

of the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office that awards scholarships and fellowships to American students for postgraduate and postdoctoral study and research at UK universities.

History

The commission was established by the ''Marshall Aid Commemoration Act 1953'' of the UK Parliament, in recognition of the

Marshall Plan The Marshall Plan (officially the European Recovery Program, ERP) was an American initiative enacted in 1948 to provide foreign aid to Western Europe. The United States transferred over $13 billion (equivalent of about $ in ) in economic re ...

, which had provided economic support to Western Europe (including the UK) in the aftermath of the Second World War. The principal architect of the scheme was Sir Roger Makins (1904-1996), a Deputy Under Secretary in the Foreign Office. Soon after the bill was passed by parliament Makins was appointed British Ambassador to the United States. He was subsequently ennobled as Baron Sherfield. The commission has up to ten members, who are appointed by the British Government. The first chairman was Sir Oliver Franks (1905-1992), who had been British Ambassador to the US while the Marshall Plan was in operation. The work of the commission is administered by the

Association of Commonwealth Universities The Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU) was established in 1913, and has over 500 member institutions in over 50 countries across the Commonwealth. The ACU is the world's oldest international network of universities. Its mission is t ...

. Twelve Marshall scholarships were awarded in the first year. The number of awards increased over the years with forty new awards made in 2017. Since 1954, approximately 1,800 Marshall Scholarships have been awarded. Marshall Sherfield Fellowships were established in 1997 for postdoctoral research. The fellowships are named after Lord Sherfield, who as Sir Roger Makins was the ar