Commonwealth Distance Learning Scholarship – Are you from any of the developing countries of the world? Do you have intention of applying for a distance learning program? As a result of some challenges such as finances to acquire visa and book for flight, some students from the developing countries can now pursue their academic dreams through distance learning scholarships. Some of such distance learning scholarships are the one sponsored by the commonwealth of nations to support those who want to pursue a career.
Therefore , if you don’t know that there such opportunities for those from the developing countries you can explore and make use of this opportunity today. For that reason, today, we are going to discuss some of the distance learning scholarship offered by Commonwealth to developing countries.
What that means is that, we are going to look at all the distance learning scholarships available for students from developing countries to apply.
Commonwealth Distance Learning Scholarship for Undergraduates And master’s Degree
This scholarship is for master’s degree students, and it is offered by the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission, and funded by the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO).
This scholarship is offered to students who want to do their masters degree from their home countries, and must come from the the under listed developing Commonwealth countries. The countries are as follows:
Who can apply?
Those that can apply for this scholarship are those that are
British Protected Person, a citizen of, or a refugee in one of the countries listed therein:
- Bangladesh
- Belize
- Botswana
- Cameroon
- Eswatini
- Fiji
- Gabon
- The Gambia
- Ghana
- Grenada
- Guyana
- India
- Jamaica
- Kenya
- Kiribati
- Lesotho
- Malawi
- Malaysia
- Maldives
- Mauritius
- Montserrat
- Mozambique
- Namibia
- Nauru
- Nigeria
- Pakistan
- Papua New Guinea
- Rwanda
- Saint Helena
- Saint Lucia
- Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
- Samoa
- Sierra Leone
- Solomon Islands
- Sri Lanka
- Tanzania
- Togo
- Tonga
- Tuvalu
- Uganda
- Vanuatu
- Zambia
Requirements Criteria
To apply for the commonwealth distance learning scholarship for developing countries, applicants must meet the following requirements criteria:
- Applicants must live in any of the aforementioned countries and stud.
- Only candidates with a minimum of a second class upper (that is 2:1) can apply for this scholarship.
- Every applicants must have a bachelors honors
- Or have its equivalent in the Economic, Social and Political Sciences or any other related field in Gerontology
- Candidates should also have, or plan to take shortly, an IELTS test, a minimum 6.5 overall, with no less than 5.5 in each component.
- And must be someone who without this scholarship cannot afford to study the program.
- At least one reference is expected from all applicants
- All students must have obtain an offer to begin a particular programs/course before application
There are six themes for this scholarship, they are as follows:
- Science and technology for development
- Strengthening health systems and capacity
- Promoting global prosperity
- Strengthening global peace, security and governance
- Strengthening resilience and response to crises
- Access, inclusion and opportunity
For more information on the various themes visit CSC Development themes.
How to Complete the application form
In order for you to complete application form successfully, you have to follow this procedure diligently. The form has three stages or parts, that must be filled and completed by all the candidates. All the candidates will be expected to do the following:
Part one: The first part should explain how the candidate’s proposed Scholarship relates to:
- The issues of development that may affect global, national, and local level
- The issues of development that may affect the CSC development theme you choose
Part Two: in the second part, the form should explain how the candidate intends to apply their new skills and qualification do things differently on arriving their respective homes home.
Part Three; The third part should explain what the scholarship will help the candidate to change in development terms of the Scholarship, other things like:
- The outcomes they aim to achieve
- The timeframe for their implementation
- Who the beneficiaries will be
Part Four: The fourth part of the form should explain how to measure the the impact of the candidate’s works.
Selection Criteria
The selected number for the distance learning process will be conducted by the all the universities that took part in the scholarship in the UK. Towards 9 May 2023, all the universities will then forward the selected candidates of the scholarship to CSC for confirmation processes. The CSC will then confirm if those candidates met the eligibility criteria for this scheme and universities will inform candidates of their results in July 2023.Selection criteria include
For the a student to be selected for this scholarship, there are certain considerations. The primary factors that are put into consideration are:
- The academic merit of the student
- Visible impacts on the work of development done by the candidate in his/her home country.
Benefits/Tuition fees
This a fully funded scholarship for Master’s Degree students. As per the tuition fee, the fee cover the cost of the student’s tuition fees for the entire period of the course.
How to apply for the Scholarship
Candidates can apply for the Commonwealth Scholarships Commission using the Electronic Application System (EAS) but if applicants want to apply through the University of Southampton, then it will be through Postgraduate applications for either MSc Global Ageing and or MSc Policy. Gerontology.
When is the deadline for applications?
Tuesday 28 March 2023 at 16:00 (GMT), is the deadline for the applications of the Commonwealth Distance Learning Scholarships for the Master’s Degree students.
Conclusion
In this article, we were able to discuss some of the distance learning scholarship offered by Commonwealth to developing countries. We have also discussed all the requirements criteria, the award, deadline for application, how to complete the application form and how you can apply for the scholarship.