New Zealand:Gates Cambridge Scholarship

In October 2000, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation of Seattle, Washington, USA announced a donation to the University of Cambridge of $210 million to establish the Gates Cambridge Trust.

This benefaction creates in perpetuity an international scholarship programme to enable outstanding graduate students from outside the United Kingdom to study at the University of Cambridge. The Trustees are required to award scholarships on the basis of a person's intellectual ability, leadership capacity and desire to use their knowledge to contribute to society throughout the world by providing service to their communities and applying their talents and knowledge to improve the lives of others.

About the scholarships
The Trust expects there to be of the order of 230 Gates Cambridge Scholars studying at the University at any one time. Although there may be variation in the actual number of awards made each year, the Trust seeks to elect approximately 100 new scholars annually.

In selecting Gates Cambridge Scholars, the Trust looks for students of exceptional academic achievement and scholarly promise for whom advanced study at Cambridge would be particularly appropriate. The Trust expects a good match to be made between the applicant's qualifications and aspirations and what Cambridge has to offer. Successful applicants will have the ability to make a significant contribution to their discipline while in Cambridge, with a strong aptitude for research, analysis and a creative approach to defining and solving problems.

Gates Cambridge Scholarships are awarded only to students who gain admission to the University through the University's regular procedures.

The Gates Cambridge Scholarships offer a substantial number of awards each year for the following full time courses of study:

Who is eligible
Candidates for a Gates Cambridge Scholarship:
may be citizens of any country outside the United Kingdom.
may apply to study any subject available at the University of Cambridge.
must apply to pursue one of the following full-time residential courses of study:
Research leading to the PhD degree
One-year post-graduate courses (e.g. MPhil, LLM, Diploma, MBA etc.)
2 year MSc degree
Second Bachelor degree as an Affiliated Student
MBBChir Clinical Studies


must be admitted to Cambridge through the University's normal academic procedures. The Trust cannot admit students.

must have a first class or high second class honours degree, or its equivalent, from a recognised university. For universities which work according to the North American pattern, candidates will be expected to have excellent transcripts with high GPA scores showing evidence of sustained achievement in study, together with the type of academic references which speak of the candidate's leadership potential, social commitment, intellectual ability and why further study at Cambridge is particularly appropriate. The Gates Cambridge Trust does not require candidates to take a GRE test, although some Departments in Cambridge may do so; candidates should check the relevant section of the Graduate Studies Prospectus.

must be well prepared for the Cambridge course for which they are applying and must meet the academic criteria for admission specified by the University. Some courses may have particular requirements for admission, and details of these can be found in the relevant sections of the Graduate Studies Prospectus for graduate applicants, or the Undergraduate Prospectus for affiliated applicants.

Value of the scholarship
A Gates Cambridge Scholarship covers the full cost of studying at Cambridge, namely:

the University Composition Fee and College fees at the appropriate rate1
a maintenance allowance for a single student (£12, 250 for 12 months at the current 2008-09 rate; pro rata for courses shorter then 12 months)
the cost of the most economical airfare from the scholar's normal country of residence to the UK at the beginning of their course and the cost of the most economical airfare from the UK to the scholar's normal country of residence at the end of the course
A discretionary contribution towards the costs of supporting dependants at Cambridge (upon application)
Once in residence, Gates Scholars may apply for financial help with the costs of attending conferences, undertaking fieldwork and other activities.

Conditions
You can find out about graduate courses at Cambridge from the Graduate Studies Prospectus. Affiliated students can find information about undergraduate courses in the Undergraduate Prospectus.

For further information visit www.gatesscholar.org

Graduate Studies Prospectus packs are available on line at http://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/univ/gsprospectus.

Deadline:15/12/2010