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THE RHODES SCHOLARSHIP 2016
ZAMBIA
MEMORANDUM
FOR ELECTION FOR 2016 ONLY
(This Memorandum cancels those issued for previous years)
Updated May 2015
This document assumes that you have read and are familiar with the basic admission criteria for the Rhodes
Scholarships, available on the main Rhodes website.For detailed conditions of tenure, view the document at
www.rhodeshouse.ox.ac.uk/files/Application/Conditions-of-Tenure.pdf
1. Closing date
a. Your application must be submitted online by midnight, Zambian time, 9 October 2015.
2.
Eligibility criteria
a. You must be a citizen of Zambia and have been resident in Zambia for at least five of the last ten
years.
b. You must have achieved academic training in a degree-awarding body in Zambia or overseas, and
have completed a Bachelor’s degree with Merit or Distinction (or equivalent elsewhere).
c. You must have reached your 19th and not have passed your 26th birthday on 01 October 2016. This
means candidates must have been born after 30 September 1990 and on or before 01 October
1997.
3.
4.
Application procedure
a. Applicants may apply online at www.rhodeshouse.ox.ac.uk/Zambia (from early June 2015).
b.
All candidates are required to ensure that their complete electronic application is received online
by midnight, Zambian time, 9 October 2015. Candidates are responsible for ensuring that
referees submit their references online no later than midnight, Zambian time, 6 November 2015.
c.
The Selection Committee will invite candidates they wish to see to a personal interview. No
candidate will be selected without a personal interview. The final selection is confirmed by the
Rhodes Trustees, who rely on selection procedures undertaken by selection committees in each
constituency.
d.
You must be available for interview at the time of selection in Lusaka. It is expected that the
interviews will be held on Thursday, 12 November 2015.
e.
Candidates who do not receive further communication by 1 December 2015 should assume that
their application has been unsuccessful.
Information to be submitted with application
You must submit a completed application form on-line (please see 3a) with the documents and
information detailed below. All documents must be submitted in English, or English translations
provided. Please note that, if you are invited to interview, you will be asked to bring the originals of
some of these documents with you:
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a. A certified copy of your birth certificate (or an affidavit of birth) as well as that of your National
Registration card, to show that you are in the correct age group.
b. Certified copies of official transcripts of academic results and acquired degrees.
c. A head and shoulders photograph in jpg format. Please note that your photo will not be available
to reviewers until after candidates have been shortlisted for interview.
d. Curriculum vitae, showing details of what you have achieved: any employment or enterprise you
have undertaken during your studies or thereafter; your high school career; your college or
university career; your involvement in student or community affairs, cultural, sporting or political
activities; your leadership roles; and any other significant achievements or involvements. This
should not exceed two pages of 12-point Times Roman font and should not include supporting
documents.
e. A statement of no more than 1,000 words which includes:
i. Your general interests and activities and what you plan to do with your life once you have
completed your studies.
ii. Your aims and priorities and the contribution you have made and would like to make to
society.
iii. Indicate the course of study and degree you wish to follow at Oxford.
iv. Also demonstrate that you are able to meet the requirements of the specific course you have
chosen. Candidates are advised that it is a requirement of admission to all post-graduate, and
some other courses, to submit samples of written work. The regulations concerning this can
be found in the Oxford Graduate Studies Prospectus. Some courses also require successful
completion of the GRE.
v. Applicants wishing to undertake a DPhil must provide a brief outline of their proposed
research and list one or more researchers under whom you would like to work in Oxford.
Your personal statement must be clearly signed by you and the online form will ask you to attest
that you wrote the Statement yourself and that no external help was given in its preparation.
Your personal statement is a very important part of your application. It is very important for you
to have considered what course and degree you wish to follow at Oxford before you submit
your application. It is a good idea to discuss your proposed course of study with your professors
or lecturers in that field, and, if possible, with someone who has knowledge of United Kingdom
universities. Additional sources of information are available online at www.ox.ac.uk/admissions,
as well as on individual faculty/departmental websites.
General advice on preparing your personal statement can be found in a short video entitled
Rhodes Scholars speak about preparing the personal statement and the application process
www.rhodeshouse.ox.ac.uk/apply.
f.
A list of six people (your referees) who can be contacted by the selection committee for further
detailed information about you.
i. The form will require you to furnish the business and home (or mobile) telephone and fax
numbers as well as the postal and email addresses of all your referees.
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ii. Choose reliable people who are likely to respond to requests for written reports as their
reports will be crucial to your application. Ask their permission before listing them as referees.
You will find guidance for referees on pages 4-5.
iii. At least three of your referees should be academics who have taught you at undergraduate
level and who can comment on your academic ability and how well they think you would fare
at Oxford. One of the referees must be able to write of your schooldays.
iv. Other referees can include teachers and other persons who are able to comment critically on
whether you fulfil the requirements Rhodes set out in his Will. A good referee is one who
knows you well, rather than a well-known person who only knows you superficially. It is not
advisable to get close contemporaries or personal friends to be referees.
g. It is neither necessary nor desirable to include certificates or testimonials other than those
required.
5. Selection Procedure
a. The Rhodes Trust does not require any financial information from applicants, since selection for the
Rhodes Scholarship is made without regard to financial means.
b. If you have dual citizenship, you may apply to one constituency only.
c. Selection for the Rhodes Scholarship is of course made without regard to marital status, race,
ethnic origin, colour, gender, religion, sexual orientation, social background, disability, caste or
other irrelevant distinctions.
d. The Rhodes Scholarship for which you are applying is for entry to Oxford in October 2016 and may
not be deferred.
e. The Rhodes Scholarship is confirmed only upon successful admission to the University of Oxford.
f.
A selection committee will make no nomination if it is of the opinion that there is no sufficiently
qualified candidate.
g. The decision of the Selection Committee is final.
6. Procedure after Selection
a. Please note that successful applicants will need to apply to the University of Oxford very soon after
selection. Full details will be given upon selection.
b. The full application of successful candidates will be forwarded to Rhodes House, Oxford, where the
Scholarship references will be used as appropriate in support of the candidate’s subsequent
application to Oxford.
c. Applicants for a second undergraduate degree with senior status will need to submit a paper
application, provided on selection, which must reach Oxford by Friday, 27 November 2015.
Candidates must therefore make a quick submission immediately following election.
d. Successful candidates will be encouraged to disclose, in confidence, any medical condition or
special needs which may require academic or personal support in Oxford. This disclosure is entirely
voluntary and is requested only to enable Rhodes House to provide suitable support in Oxford and
to make the transition to Oxford as smooth as possible.
For further information about the Rhodes Trust and the Rhodes Scholarships,
www.rhodeshouse.ox.ac.uk
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THE RHODES SCHOLARSHIP 2016
ZAMBIA
Guidance for Referees
Thank you for your willingness to act as referee for an applicant for the Rhodes Scholarship. The Selection
Committee will be grateful if you will provide a frank statement regarding this applicant’s qualifications.
When Cecil Rhodes drew up the conditions of the Scholarship in his Will, he was looking for certain
qualities. He grouped these into four main areas: literary and scholastic attainments; fondness of and
success in outdoor sports; qualities of truth, courage, devotion to duty; sympathy for and protection of the
weak, kindness, unselfishness and fellowship; exhibition of moral force of character and instincts to lead
and to take an interest in one’s contemporaries.
The Zambian Selection Committee places a high premium on the intellectual and academic attainments of
those chosen. Proven intellectual and academic attainment of a high standard is therefore the first quality
required of applicants. However, bearing in mind the injunction of Cecil Rhodes that his Scholars should
not be “mere bookworms”, applicants will also be required to show integrity of character, sympathy for
and protection of the weak, the ability to lead and the energy to use their talents to the full. Sporting
prowess is no longer an essential attribute if an applicant demonstrates in other ways the physical vigour
that will enable him/her to make an effective contribution to the world. Mr. Rhodes clearly expected this in
expressing the hope that a Rhodes Scholar would come to 'esteem the performance of public duties as his
highest aim'.
It is not expected that you will be able to speak from first hand knowledge of the candidate's qualifications
under all these heads. If you are primarily acquainted with the candidate through an academic relationship
you are requested to concentrate in detail on intellectual quality and potential (bearing in mind that your
reference will be used, if the applicant is successful, in his application for graduate study at the University
of Oxford) although your assessment of the other qualities will be welcome to the Committee. If, on the
other hand, you are better acquainted with the candidate through non-academic interests, you are
requested to concentrate on assessment of character in the knowledge that the Committee is looking for
persons who show promise of outstanding achievement in later life.
Please do not hesitate to speak of the candidate's limitations as well as qualities. A critical appraisement
will add to, rather than detract from, the force of your letter, since Committees naturally tend to be
dubious of recommendations which imply that a candidate has no limitations whatever.
Format of your reference:
The Selection Committee prefers to receive references on-line, by submission on this site.
1. Reference letters may be uploaded in either PDF or MS Word format.
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2. For academic references, university headed paper is preferred. However, when this is not feasible,
an institutional email address is acceptable. For non-academic references, a headed paper is
preferred.
3. Where referees find it difficult to upload references as PDF or MS Word documents. Please ensure
that you include full contact details and your institutional title or position (if applicable) so that the
Selection Committee may contact you if there is need of any clarification.
4. Alternatively, you may send your reference by post or hand-delivery to the following:

By Post: National Secretary, Rhodes Trust, P.O. Box 38163, Lusaka, Zambia.
Note: Registered mail is not permitted. Sending the reference by courier (e.g. by DHL) is
acceptable.

Hand-delivery: National Secretary, Rhodes Trust, C/O Premier Consult Limited, 29 Njoka Road
(Off-Kwacha Road), Olympia Park, Lusaka, Zambia. Tel: 260-211-290056.
5. All references must be submitted to the National Secretary by 6 November 2015, at the latest.
For further information about the Rhodes Scholarship and the Rhodes Trust, visit
www.rhodeshouse.ox.ac.uk
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