FULLY FUNDED BEIT TRUST POSTGRADUATE SCHOLARSHIPS

Deadline: 12 February 2021|

About Beit

The Beit Trust is an independent charity. We support people and communities in Zambia, Zimbabwe and Malawi (ZZM). For over a hundred years, we’ve funded regional projects in health, education, transport, social welfare and conservation, ever since the Trust was established by the financier and philanthropist, Alfred Beit, in 1906. The Trust now provides more than £2.5 million a year in grants to the region. In the last five years alone, we have funded hundreds of projects, including hospitals, clinics, care homes, schools and libraries. We have supported a hundred Beit Scholars at universities in the UK and South Africa, as well as regional training for surgeons from ZZM.

Eligibility Requirements

• By Act of Parliament, the Beit Trust supports ONLY students who are nationals of Zambia, Zimbabwe or Malawi, who hold permanent residence, live there and/or intend to return to their country after their studies.
• Applicants (except medical and veterinary doctors) must be under 30 years of age on 31 December 2020. Some experience of work after completion of a first degree is strongly recommended.
• Doctors and Vets must be under 35 years of age on 31 December 2020. They should have completed 18 months of internship, and a one-year, preferably rural, posting in Malawi, Zambia or Zimbabwe.
• The Trust cannot consider applications from those who have already begun a course.

Beit Joint University Partnerships

The Beit Trust has partnership agreements with the universities below. This enables the Trust to share costs, and to increase the number of scholarships it can fund. For this reason, only applicants with acceptances from the universities listed below will be eligible for Beit Trust Scholarships. Applicants must first apply to, and be accepted by, a Beit Partner University before applying to the Trust for a scholarship.

The universities offer a one-year taught Master’s in the UK; and a two-year taught Master’s in South Africa. Both have a research dimension and the applicant must have obtained Honours (First or Upper Second or equivalent) at undergraduate level.

There are seven Partner Universities in the United Kingdom:

Cambridge – 2 Scholarships available

Edinburgh – 2 Scholarships available

Glasgow – 2 Scholarships available, bio-medical disciplines only

Leeds – 5-6 Scholarships available

Oxford – 2 Scholarships available

St Andrews – 2 Scholarships available, computer science only

Strathclyde – Engineering disciplines only.

Please note, there will be no University of Strathclyde award for this year only, so please do not apply to the Beit Trust for academic year 2021-22. The next award will be made in academic year 2022-23.

There are currently three Partner Universities in South Africa:

• Rhodes
• Stellenbosch
• University of Cape Town (UCT)

These partnerships allow us to award joint scholarships, e.g. Beit-Cambridge, Beit-UCT, etc., and may change from time to time.

What does a Beit Trust Postgraduate Scholarship Cover?

• Fees, tuition costs and related academic expenses. These are paid by the Trust direct to the Partner Universities.
• A personal allowance, index-linked in accordance with guidance from an independent authority, covering maintenance support.
• Other allowances are paid for arrival, a laptop and departure.
• Economy Class tickets are provided for the initial journey to the place of study, and on final return.
• No allowances are paid for spouses and other family members or dependants.

How to apply for a Beit Postgraduate Scholarship

For UK Partner University applications:

1.  
   1. Make your application for admission directly to one or more Partner Universities listed above, and only to those universities, via their websites and during the period beginning September 2020 for UK Universities.  Please refer to their websites, which will guide you.
   2. Notify the relevant university, as part of your study application, that you will be approaching the Beit Trust for scholarship funding.
   3. As long as the course/s you wish to pursue are available, you may apply to more than one Partner University at a time. Indeed, we recommend you do so, to increase your chances of acceptance, and to broaden the scholarship opportunities available.
   4. Once you have an offer from your chosen Partner University, you should apply as early as possible to The Beit Trust for a scholarship.
   5. Your application, with all the supporting documents, must be uploaded via the Scholarship application link, below in green.
   6. You need three referees: Academic, Character and Employer (as appropriate). They have separate and individual forms, the link for which must be forwarded to them by you, the applicant. The link becomes available once you have submitted your scholarship application form electronically.
   7. We prefer referees to use the link provided in the application form. If, however, they can only provide their reference by email, please forward them the relevant forms, which you can download below.

Download Academic Reference Form – Download Character Reference Form – Download Employer Reference Form

                  The completed forms must be returned directly from the referee via email to [email protected]

For South African Partner University applications:

Due to the South African University application process opening after our Scholarship application deadline of 12 February 2021, we will accept scholarship applications for South African Universities for the year 2022/2023 without a confirmed offer.

Please follow steps 4 to 7 above. Where you are asked to upload your university offer letter, please provide instead the details of the course/s and university/s that you will be applying for, in PDF format. Your scholarship application will then be considered alongside the applicants for UK universities, as part of the same entry year cohort.

The Trust will sift your application as part of our selection process. If you are successful and shortlisted for an interview, you will go to the relevant Beit Trust national selection Board.

If you are then offered a scholarship from the Trust – and not all those selected for interview receive an offer – you will then need to apply for entry to a South African Partner University (as set out in our website). You may indicate in your application that you have been awarded a Beit Scholarship.

Should you get an offer, we ask that you submit it to us as soon as you receive it.  Should you not be successful in obtaining an offer, the scholarship will not, unfortunately, be available to you.

The absolute deadline for applications and references to reach the Trust is 12 February 2021

• The Trust will shortlist the most qualified for interview by our national selection boards in Zambia, Zimbabwe and Malawi.  The boards will sit during the week of 22 March 2021.
• Resources are limited and the scholarship process competitive. Not all those interviewed will be selected for a Scholarship.
• But an interview is essential to selection.  Please ensure that you are able to attend if you are invited to an interview.
• The Trust will notify those selected for interview of the date, time and place.
• The Trust will give particular weight to those who have:
  – work or other professional experience;
  – demonstrated a capacity to become leaders in their field;
  – chosen a degree of direct and practical relevance to the development of their country;
  – stated an intention to return to their country at the completion of their degree.

Documents needed to submit with your application

Please ensure you have all the documents below ready to upload electronically.  Once you start the application process, you must complete it, as you will not be able to save answers and return to it later. You will, however, be able to scroll through the form before you begin to fill it in.

You will be required to upload the following documents with your application:

1. A signed Medical Certificate Form from your doctor.  This will need to be completed before you begin the application process below.  Please download the form here: Medical Certificate Form
2. A copy of your offer letter from a UK  Partner University/s; or a PDF document detailing the university/s and course/s you will apply to at South African Partner University/s.
3. Degree results (incl. certificates of importance).
4. Curriculum Vitae (CV).
5. A personal statement (no longer than 500 words) to explain in your own words how you think a postgraduate degree will benefit your country and its development.
6. A clear recent photograph of yourself, not a passport photo, but something that shows you to your best advantage.
7. A clear copy of your valid passport, showing date of issue and expiry.  Please ensure it is valid for the duration of your proposed studies; and that sufficient blank pages are available to accommodate visa and travel stamp requirements.

SCHOLARSHIPS