Rhodes Ahead: Education

There are more Rhodes Scholars working in education around the world than in any other sector. Right from the start of the Rhodes Scholarship, Scholars have been active in education, from primary schools to universities, in teaching, research, administration and funding. Sir Rick Trainor, Interim Warden of Rhodes House notes, "education at all levels is fundamental to the welfare of society, involvement in education aligns very well with the Rhodes Scholarships’ basic aim of public service."

In the latest addition to our Scholar Impact Showcase, we highlight the work of a small subset of Scholars working in education. Explore the interactive graphic, read more about some of the key themes which emerged from the project, and enjoy some of the highlights below.

"We are doing a much better job now at bringing more people in, at creating more flexibility. We are better engaged with the outside world as a sector than we've ever been.”

Carolyn Evans (Victoria & Exeter 1995), Vice Chancellor of Griffith University and Chair of Universities Australia, reminds us that nostalgia for “the good old days” is misplaced. For all the challenges the sector faces, university education is accessible to far more people than ever before:

"In the 'good old days', almost no women went to university, almost no Indigenous people in Australia went to university. Very few kids from working class backgrounds did. When I look at Griffith, 40% of our students are the first in their family. We have about a thousand Indigenous students enrolled. Many more people are getting the benefit of a university education."

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“There's a lot more emphasis on mental health support now than even 10 years ago. Most stakeholders in higher education now recognise how important it is."

Chloe Walker (Commonwealth Caribbean & St Cross 2014) is Deputy Registrar at the Rhodes Trust, helping the Scholar Affairs team provide pastoral care and academic advice as they navigate applying to and arriving in Oxford. As well as bringing her EdTech experience to the role, as a Rhodes Scholar herself, she has first-hand experience on the pressures students face:

"I've tried to take a longer view. Maybe we focus too much on doing it all within the first five years after leaving Oxford. Hopefully I'll live for another 50 years, I don't have to do the big thing within five years, I can work towards it and hopefully by the end of my life I've made an impact, a contrbution in several ways."

"I believe there will be an increasing premium on what humans can do - human skills that can't be mechanized, can't be automated, can't be turned over to AI"

Ben Cannon (Missouri & Corpus Christi 2000) is Executive Director at Oregon Higher Education Coordinating Commission, helping set state education policy and administer state higher education funding of $2 billion. As Oregon's economy transforms from natural resource industries, he makes the case for higher education:

"In spite of the rising costs which have challenged this value equation, it is incontrovertible that higher education confers benefits to earnings that are a near-necessity for Oregonians who want raise families and live comfortably in this economy."

"I think anyone who has a sense of privilege needs to be undermined as much as possible. My encouragement to schools around the world, private or independent, is to do just that."

From Botswana to China to the UK, US and beyond, Malcolm McKenzie (Diocesan College, Rondebosch & Oriel 1977) has had a distinguished career in school leadership at innovative institutions, giving him insight into different education systems around the world:

"One of the things I've learned about international schools around the world is that many of them are not very deeply-rooted in the soil of the host country. But national schools all too frequently are too deeply-rooted in their own countries to the extent that the teach curricula that are overly patriotic or nationalistic."

Video Gallery

Our feature on Rhodes Scholars in Education includes interviews with 25 Scholars elected from 5 continents over a 60 year period.

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