The Mandela Rhodes Scholarship: Apply now for A Transformative Leadership Opportunity(Fully-funded)

The Mandela Rhodes Scholarship provides younger African leaders a life-changing journey that mixes monetary assist with an intensive management programme. Designed to problem, encourage, and join, this scholarship equips students with the abilities and networks wanted to drive change throughout the continent.

The Leadership Development Programme

At the center of the scholarship is a management programme rooted within the rules of reconciliation, training, entrepreneurship, and management. Inspired by Nelson Mandela’s imaginative and prescient, the programme emphasizes inside transformation as the muse for impactful management. Scholars take part in a sequence of immersive, week-long residential workshops all through their time in residence, fostering private {and professional} development.

Comprehensive Financial Support

The Mandela Rhodes Scholarship gives full funding for postgraduate research at a acknowledged South African establishment. This consists of:

• Tuition and registration charges for a one-year Honours or two-year Master’s diploma
• Study supplies, analysis, and medical assist allowances
• Accommodation, meals, and a private stipend
• Economy-class journey to and from South Africa at first and finish of the diploma

Are You Eligible?

To qualify for the Mandela Rhodes Scholarship, you have to:

• Be a citizen of an African nation
• Be aged between 19 and 29
• Have an undergraduate diploma with wonderful tutorial outcomes (above 70% or upper-second class Honours) by January 1, 2026
• Have proficiency in English (a free check is offered if you’re not sure)

Selection Criteria: What We Look For

Mandela Rhodes Scholars embody the next values:

Leadership

Do you aspire to be a visionary chief with ethical authority? Do you see management as a software to advance equality, freedom, human rights, and dignity?

Reconciliation

Do you consider that reconciliation and reparation are key to addressing historic injustices? Are you prepared to begin this journey by reflecting by yourself experiences and views?

Education

Do you excel academically and consider in utilizing your training to create a constructive impression? Do you worth each mental excellence and robust character?

Entrepreneurship

Are you enthusiastic about Africa’s potential within the international panorama? Have you demonstrated innovation, creativity, and initiative in driving change?

Read the Characteristics sought in a Mandela Rhodes Scholar.

Are You Ready to Grow?

To profit from this programme, you should be open to deep private reflection, studying from numerous views, and interesting with advanced challenges. The Mandela Rhodes Scholarship isn’t just about tutorial excellence—it’s about transformation.

Special Considerations for International Applicants

Applicants from exterior South Africa may have to finish SAQA verification to start research in a South African college. Please discuss with the FAQs and application steps beneath for particulars.

Testimonials from Past Scholars

“To be part of that cohort transformed my life in ways unimaginable. You meet people who share similar ambitions as you in terms of transforming the spaces that you occupy and eventually, the African continent.” — Lehlohonolo Mofokeng (South Africa & University of the Witwatersrand, 2015)

“One of the things that I will be forever grateful for is that during that time I got to voice and make conscious the values by which I want to live in this world as a leader and as an entrepreneur.” — Pie-Pacifique Kabalira Uwase (Rwanda & UKZN, 2006)

Funding and Finances

• What prices are coated?
• What prices are usually not coated?
• How do the funds work?

Application Process

• How do I apply?
• What is the application deadline?
• Do I want SAQA verification?

University Studies

• Where can I study?
• Do I’ve to apply to a college earlier than finishing my application?
• Does MRF apply to the college on my behalf?
• Do I meet the entry necessities for my chosen course?

Eligibility

• Is there an age restrict?
• Do I want straight As?
• Do you fund undergraduate research?
• Can I apply if I’m ending my undergraduate diploma this 12 months?

[See full FAQ section]

How to Apply

Applications for the 2026 consumption open on March 17, 2025, and shut on April 21, 2025.

Steps to Apply:

1.Check the timeline: Ensure you might be conscious of deadlines.

• March: Applications open on Monday, 17 March 2025. Candidates can add recommenders on the platform and start importing their documentation and dealing on their private essays. See ‘requirements’.
• April: Applications shut by the tip of Monday, 21 April 2025 23:59 GMT+2. No late or incomplete functions might be accepted beneath any circumstances.
• June: You might be notified by the tip of June whether or not or not you might be by way of to Round Two.
• July: You might be notified by the tip of July whether or not or not you might be by way of to Round Three.
• August: You might be notified by the tip of August if you’re invited for an interview within the Final Round, or if in case you have been unsuccessful.
• October: Interviews might be performed in South Africa in October. If you might be within the ultimate spherical and you might be based mostly exterior South Africa, you can be flown in for an in-person interview with our choice committee. You might be notified by the tip of October if you’re chosen as a Mandela Rhodes Scholar.
• October-December: Selected Mandela Rhodes Scholars should do their finest to safe acceptance at their college of alternative, and their study visa for journey to South Africa in January.

 

2. Review programme necessities: Confirm eligibility and application supplies.

Tip: See if you qualify for the Mandela Rhodes Scholarship.

3. Get Your Documents Ready

Important: Applicants from exterior South Africa may have to finish SAQA verification to begin their research at a South African college. Please see beneath.

• • Recommenders: We require three letters of advice, in English, as part of your application. Your recommenders should submit their letters by way of our application platform. Without these letters, you can not submit your application. Get in contact with three individuals who have related expertise of you and perception into your character as quickly as attainable—even earlier than functions open—to ask their permission and provides them time to jot down their letters. Once you register a recommender on the platform, they may obtain an e-mail asking them to go browsing and add their letter.
  • Documentation: You might be required to add certificates of completion for your levels, transcripts of your tutorial outcomes, and scans of your ID and passport paperwork. Your paperwork and transcripts should be supplied in English.
  • Essays: You might be requested to jot down two brief essays—one in your private journey, and one on a selected query referring to our rules.
  • Application for University: You might be requested to fill in your proposed course of study in your application. We don’t require proof that you’ve utilized, however we advocate that you just apply as quickly as attainable and to a couple of college.
  • Qualification Requirements: Each nation has its personal framework for registering and score qualification ranges. In South Africa, that is managed by the South African Qualifications Agency (SAQA). SAQA accreditation can take 4-8 weeks, which may delay your acceptance to college and thus your study visa to South Africa.
  • Master’s Programmes: Some Master’s programmes in South Africa could require a number of years of labor or medical expertise as an admission requirement. It is your accountability to check if you can be accepted to the course and apply for backup choices.

Ready to Apply?

The functions timeline runs from March to November of every 12 months, for the next 12 months’s consumption. Applications open on 17 March 2025 and shut 21 April 2025. You will apply on-line, and entry our application platform by way of our web site. Subscribe to tips and alerts

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