The Mandela Rhodes Scholarship

The Mandela Rhodes Scholarship 2022

The Mandela Rhodes Scholarship is a life-changing leadership journey.

Applications for the Mandela Rhodes Scholarship are now open! Discover your unique leadership style and become a part of Nelson Mandela’s legacy of transformative impact.

The Mandela Rhodes Scholarship is a life-changing leadership journey.
The scholarship combines financial support with a leadership programme that will challenge you, grow you, and connect you to young African changemakers – just like you.

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The leadership development programme

Our programme is built on our founding principles of reconciliation, education, entrepreneurship, and leadership, and a belief that leadership begins with inner transformation. We aim to keep Nelson Mandela’s legacy alive by equipping young African leaders with the competence and courage to transform the continent into a place where everyone has an equal opportunity to thrive. Our programme is delivered primarily through a series of week-long residential workshops which you will attend during your time in residence.

Financial support

The Mandela Rhodes Scholarship offers comprehensive funding for the core costs associated with your studies. It covers tuition for a one-year Honours degree or a two-year Master’s degree in any field at a recognised South African institution of higher education. This includes tuition and registration fees, allowances for study materials, research, and medical aid, accommodation and meals, personal allowance and economy class travel to and from your home country to your South African university at the beginning and end of your degree. You will also receive a personal allowance.

Young African, could you be a Mandela Rhodes Scholar?
We look for young leaders who aspire to the principles below and who have demonstrated the potential to live them out.

Leadership

Do you aspire to be a visionary leader who has moral authority? Do you see leadership as more than just personal ambition – as a way to pursue the advancement of equality and freedom, human rights and human dignity? And do you want to guide and inspire others to reach their full potential?

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Reconciliation

Do you believe that reconciliation – combined with reparation – is the key to harnessing an imperfect past to develop a more just world? And are you prepared to start the process by looking at your own internal landscape?

Education

Do you have excellent academic results but believe that your education should not only benefit you but make a difference for others? And do you agree that intellectual excellence must be accompanied by character and a rounded personality?

Entrepreneurship

Do you want to see Africa take its rightful place as an equal and competitive presence in the global world? Have you demonstrated individual effort, innovation and creativity to this end?

Eligibility criteria

If you are between the ages of 19 and 29, are a citizen of any African country, and have a first degree with above-average academic results (70% or upper second), you are eligible to apply for the scholarship.

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Selection criteria

We look for young Africans who have demonstrated the potential to embody our founding principles of reconciliation, education, entrepreneurship, and leadership. You must have already assumed leadership and made an impact on your campus or community.

Potential for growth

To benefit from our programme you must be curious about doing the personal, internal work of leadership. This means a commitment to developing self-awareness by engaging with difficult parts of yourself, and openness to learning from the diversity and differences in your cohort, and a willingness to explore and embrace complexity within yourself, others, and the systems around you.

Important: Applicants from outside South Africa may need to complete SAQA verification to start their studies at a South African university.

The Application Process

How do I apply?
You must apply online. You can log onto our applications platform to access your application and upload your documents and essays. The three people who write your recommendation letters must also log onto the platform to upload their letters directly. You must give them plenty of time to write their letters, sign onto the platform, and upload them. Your application cannot be submitted without the letters and will not be considered.

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For more information: Visit the website for Mandela Rhodes scholarship 2023 Application