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Awards for overseas students: Notice

REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON AWARDS FOR OVERSEAS STUDENTS 1997-98

Introduction

Numbers of overseas students

3. The numbers of overseas students from countries in and outside the Commonwealth in the last ten years have been:

Awards to overseas students, 1997-98

5. As usual, a high proportion of the awards have been made to students from developing countries. The estimated total annual cost in 1997-98 incurred at Cambridge by the 1,306 students shown in the final column of the table is £19,757,582; the estimated total cost in 1997-98 of supporting the 710 students admitted in that year is £10,679,750. The Trusts and other awarding bodies are spending about £5.596m in support of the 1,306 students, of which about £3.447m is in support of the 710 newly admitted students.

The Trusts and other awarding bodies once again acknowledge with gratitude the continuing collaboration of Colleges in providing support for overseas students, as well as the awards made independently by Colleges to such students.

Overseas Research Student (ORS) Awards, 1997-98

7. Of the total 175 awards, 146 have been taken up in 1997-98, and a further six are expected to be taken up in the remainder of the academical year.

8. The take-up rate of awards made to Cambridge nominees in the 1997-98 competition (assuming that all those expected to take up awards in the remainder of the year do so) is at present 87 per cent, a slight increase on the final take-up rate for 1996-97. The national rate for 1997-98 is not yet known, but in recent years it has been just below 80 per cent.

9. In their last Report, the Committee reported their concern at the threat to the Cambridge quota of ORS Awards which arose from the possibility of changes in the methodology for calculating quotas. Quotas for the 1998-99 competition have been calculated through a revised methodology, in which the weightings accorded to the two elements used in the calculations (historic success rate in the competition and research funding allocations) have been altered. The result is that the quota in 1998-99 for Cambridge is the lowest quota allocated to the University since 1983-84. Efforts must continue to be made to ensure that future methods of determining quotas take account primarily of the quality of the applicants.

Shared Scholarships Scheme - formerly Overseas Development Administration Shared Scholarship Scheme (ODASSS) - at Cambridge

The scheme, which began in 1986-87, provides full-cost scholarships for students from developing countries of the Commonwealth wishing to pursue one-year taught postgraduate courses and, in cases where the course is not available in the student's own country, for those wishing to study at undergraduate level. The cost of the scholarships is met jointly by the Department for International Development and the Cambridge Commonwealth Trust and its collaborators. The scheme brought 48 new students (45 for graduate study and three for undergraduate study) from the developing world to Cambridge in 1997.

Since the inception of the scheme in 1986, the Cambridge Commonwealth Trust and its collaborators have joined with the ODA, and now with the Department for International Development, in supporting 577 students from developing countries of the Commonwealth; this has contributed significantly to the success of the scheme as a whole. The level of awards for October 1998 has not yet been settled, but it is hoped that the present quota of 50 scholarships for Cambridge will continue.

The table appended to this Report sets out the awards made, by country, over the twelve years of the scheme.

Cambridge Commonwealth Trust

New schemes and schemes renewed in 1997 include a major new scheme of scholarships in collaboration with the Malaysian Commonwealth Studies Centre, to be known as the Malaysian Commonwealth Scholarships, for students from the Commonwealth; following a generous donation from Dr Orde Poynton, a scheme of Poynton Cambridge Scholarships for research for students from Australia; the renewal of the Britain Australia Bicentennial Scholarships for Australia in collaboration with Jesus College and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office; two new schemes for Bangladesh and Pakistan in collaboration with the Charles Wallace Bangladesh Trust and the Charles Wallace Pakistan Trust; the renewal of the British Chevening Cambridge Scholarship scheme for Cyprus in collaboration with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Leventis Foundation; a scheme of scholarships for research for students from Hong Kong arranged with the Chinese University of Hong Kong; to commemorate the founding of the Shell Transport and Trading Company in 1897, the Shell Centenary scheme of scholarships for students from non-OECD developing countries of the Commonwealth, together with a scheme of Shell Centenary Chevening Scholarships in collaboration with Shell and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office; and the renewal of the Cable & Wireless/FCO Scholarships for Commonwealth countries of the Caribbean.

Cambridge Overseas Trust

Among new developments in 1997 have been a new scheme of awards for students from Argentina pursuing undergraduate studies; a new British Chevening scheme for Indonesia in collaboration with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office; a scheme of scholarships for students from the Ukraine arranged with the International Renaissance Foundation of Ukraine and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office; a British Chevening scheme for Vietnam in collaboration with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office; to commemorate the founding of the Shell Transport and Trading Company in 1897, the Shell Centenary scheme of scholarships for students from non-OECD countries outside the Commonwealth, together with a scheme of Shell Centenary Chevening Scholarships in collaboration with Shell and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office; and a new scheme of scholarships for member states of the Arab League in collaboration with the Arab-British Chamber Charitable Foundation and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

A full list of the schemes of awards for graduate students administered by the Cambridge Commonwealth Trust, the Cambridge Overseas Trust and associated trusts is set out in the Graduate Studies Prospectus, 1998-99 (pp. 185-204).

Cambridge European Trust

APPENDIX

CAMBRIDGE SHARED SCHOLARSHIPS SCHEME

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