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The prestigious Rhodes scholarship has increased one more seat for Indian students which makes it six seats in a year. Dr Elizabeth Kiss, Warden of Rhodes House, told indianexpress.com that this seat is funded by entrepreneurs Mukund Rajan and his wife Soumya Rajan. Mukund was selected as an Indian Rhodes Scholar in 1989 and is an alumnus of Oxford University.
Mukund’s father, Raghavachari Govindarajan worked with the Indian government while Soumya’s great-grandfather Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan served as the second president of India and in his honour, Teachers’ Day is celebrated on September 5.
Soumya took to LinkedIn and wrote, “The sixth Rhodes scholarship for India, endowed in perpetuity and made possible through a partnership with a US-based supporter and the University of Oxford, is in honour of my maternal great-grandfather, Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, and Mukund’s father, Raghavachari Govindarajan.”
She further said: “Oxford holds a special place in our hearts; it is where we first met as students and where we decided that we would spend the rest of our lives together.”
The couple met at Oxford University while pursuing their higher education.
The Rhodes Scholarship is a postgraduate award for international students to study at the University of Oxford, United Kingdom. From India, the Rhodes Trust shortlists five scholars (six from the next year) and support them for up to four years.
Indians constitute the largest group of foreign students in UK universities for the past two years. However, the number of scholarships for years has remained at 5. Isn’t this less? “Yes, absolutely and our goal is to increase it to seven. We are finding more donors,” said Kiss who is in India to announce this scholarship and meet the Rhodes alumni.
Oxford University remains a fascination for students, especially Indians who apply in large numbers. As per Kiss, they have seen about a 10 per cent increase every year in the number of applications. “India is in the top 5 constituencies in terms of number of applications. We received 700 applications for the five spots. We understand the interest in this scholarship and we select based on merit,” she said.
Apart from India, Rhodes Trust receives most applications from West Africa, Southern Africa, Pakistan, and the USA. Kiss claims there is a gender balance maintained with about 50 per cent of Indian scholars being women.
Kiss further elaborates they have been receiving applications from different backgrounds and regions of India. Two years back they selected a student from Nagaland while this year, two Kashmiri students will join the cohort of 100 international scholars. “We keep merit as top criteria and our selection criteria also include excellence in academics, character and leadership ability,” she said adding India is one of the dynamic and emerging economies and they want more leaders coming from this nation.
Most popular courses recently for Indian Rhodes Scholars have been law, public policy and South Asian Studies, Kiss informed. “We also have Indian scholars studying Neuroscience, Biology, Physics, Theology, Philosophy and other fields,” she said.
Rhodes Trust is also planning to increase scholarships for African students as well. “That’s also a high-priority region. The Rhodes Scholarship was established in 1903 by Cecil John Rhodes. The reason for the focus on Africa is twofold. The original wealth or funding for the Rhodes Scholarship came from mining activities in South Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. It is our moral obligation to support the students from these nations. We award 20 scholarships to African students. Our current goal is to get to 32 a year, which would equal the number from the United States,” she informed.
In recent years, the UK government has been trying to implement stricter rules for international students to discourage immigration.
“Education is one of the important sectors of the UK and we value our international students. Their presence helps contribute to quality and diversity in the learning environment. We favor more openness to international students. I published an opinion piece a few months ago criticising some of the government’s policies like the graduate route which thankfully was not implemented. Currently, if you earn a postgraduate degree, you can apply to work in the UK for two years. We have found it to be beneficial for our Rhodes scholars from around the world. The UK provides fantastic work experience and helps you build that network,” she said.
Oxford University has a strong alumni network which also includes Atishi, Delhi’s new chief minister. “Rhodes Scholars in different countries collaborated to make a difference, especially during the crisis. During the pandemic, we saw the strong global presence we have where alumni were trying to help and connect each other. We had a Rhodes scholar who helped develop the AstraZeneca vaccine.”
