The OR Tambo School of Leadership and the British High Commission are inviting South Africans to further their studies at Master’s level, in any field, in the UK, by applying for the UK’s flagship Chevening Scholarship.

The programme is known for developing global leaders and stands to contribute towards the OR Tambo School’s outlook of deepening South Africans understanding of how the world works.

Applications are open for courses that will begin in October 2021 until June 2022 and the deadline for submissions is November 3, 2020.   

Among the people who have benefitted from the scholarship over the years is South African Reserve Bank Governor Lesetja Kganyago.

British High Commissioner to South Africa Nigel Casey further explained that the Chevening Scholarship is centred around leadership.

“We want to be helping to build the leadership capacity of countries all around the world for the future as part of our investment in your future. It is leaders in any field that we are looking to support in this programme,” he said.  

In recent years the programme has seen people take up courses in political science, international relations and medicine.

Last year saw a student enrolling for a video gaming course, which Casey calls an "industry of the future".

“It is a wide-open offer. The requirements are a good Bachelor's level degree and we ask that you have a few years of work experience because we need to see the evidence of that leadership ambition and potential from the candidates that we select from,” Casey said.

There are between 40 and 50 scholarships for South Africans every year.

Despite the coronavirus pandemic, British universities are reopening next month and welcoming international students.

Thirty-three South Africans are travelling to the UK to start their courses later this month while a few students are undertaking their first term virtually.

OR Tambo School Principal Dr David Masondo said they supported the Chevening scholarship because it encourages South Africans to become agents of change.

“We are building relations with the bodies like the British High Commission and the University of Johannesburg. We are working on a partnership with the University of South Africa as part of our overall strategy to offer purposeful, political education. It is our view that such relationships also provide students who participate in our programme with good institutional discipline to understand the world better in order to change it,” said Masondo.

He encouraged suitable candidates to make full use of the opportunity and also urged students to come back to South Africa to contribute to improving South Africa and Africa.

Former students' representative council member at the University of the Witwatersrand, now a board member at the OR Tambo School of Leadership, Shafee Verachia said beyond the academics there is a rich history associated with the scholarship.

“I have met people from all over the world. There is a global community of people who are working to offer change,” he said. 

He encouraged those applying for the scholarship to look at institutions that will allow them to study areas that traditional Master’s courses won’t offer.

For more information on the scholarship visit: www.chevening.org