The Rhodes Trust is pleased to announce its full Class of 2020 Rhodes Scholars, who will arrive at Rhodes House at the University of Oxford, in autumn 2020. The 102 Scholars were selected over the past weeks from all corners of the world, making this the largest class of Scholars in the history of the Rhodes Scholarships.
Read more about the all of the 2020 Scholars.
Global Rhodes Scholarship selection at Rhodes House
This round of selection also marks the second year when students from all around the world were able to apply to the Rhodes Scholarship, through the Global Rhodes Scholarship application process. The Rhodes Trust held the final selection event for the Global Scholarships, which saw 13 exceptional finalists competing for the two places. The two Scholarships were awarded to Summia Tora from Afghanistan and Hye Min Yi from South Korea – the first time a student from either country join the Rhodes community. Summia is studying a double major in Economics and Peace and Global Studies at Earlham College, USA, while Hye Min is studying International Relations at Seoul National University, South Korea.
The Rhodes Trust’s National Secretaries, who lead the selection process for each Rhodes constituency, welcomed the new Scholars. Elliot F. Gerson, American Secretary of the Rhodes Trust, commented: “This year’s American Rhodes Scholars – independently elected by 16 committees around the country meeting simultaneously – once again reflect the extraordinary diversity that characterizes and strengthens the United States. They will go to Oxford in September 2020 to study in fields broadly across the social, biological and physical sciences, and in the humanities. They are leaders already, and we expect their impact to expand exponentially over the course of their public-spirited careers.”
Diana Fu, National Co-Secretary of the Rhodes Scholarships for China stated: “We are proud of each one of our Scholars. They were selected from a pool of truly stellar candidates from all over the world. We hope that in the coming years, we will continue to see a broad range of candidates across China and globally. We trust that our Scholars will contribute to China’s future development and change the world for the better.”
The Rhodes Scholarship is the world’s preeminent and oldest graduate fellowship, based at the University of Oxford since 1903. Administered by the Rhodes Trust in Oxford, the programme awards fully-funded Scholarships each year to students from anywhere in the world with proven academic excellence who also show exceptional character, leadership, achievement in extra-curricular activities and a commitment to solving humanity’s challenges.
The Trust’s efforts to ensure that the world’s diversity is reflected at Rhodes House have expanded the Rhodes Scholarship to new countries and regions in recent years, including China, East Africa, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Malaysia, Palestine, Singapore, Syria, West Africa and the United Arab Emirates. The most recent expansion increases the number of Rhodes Scholars studying at the University of Oxford at any one time to more than 250.
The applications for the 2021 Rhodes Scholarships will open in June 2020. More information about the Scholarship application be found at: www.rhodeshouse.ox.ac.uk/apply.