Eleven Canadians given the prestigious Oxford award
Canada has 11 new Rhodes Scholars. While none of them hail from the University of Guelph, it is worth looking at what the best and brightest young minds in the country are concerning themselves with, not to mention what it takes to win the world’s most prestigious student award.
Every year since 1903, the Rhodes Scholarship has sent 83 students to the University of Oxford – tuition fees paid, plus stipend and airfare – to pursue graduate studies. The scholarship has traditionally emphasized a commitment to public service. It seeks out not only the brightest academic minds, but also those it hopes will be the leaders of the future.
The Globe and Mail took the time to ask each of the 11 students some questions about their educational career and ambitions. Here are four noticeable trends:
Medicine
It should come as no surprise that many of the winners will continue to study health and medicine at Oxford; though for most, post-graduate work in the medical field will be interdisciplinary, combining research with business, governance, and statistics.
Policy and Development
If students weren’t studying health, chances are they were focusing on policy and development in some capacity. But just studying those things isn’t enough. Joesph Singh has written articles for Foreign Policy and Time magazine, and many students have volunteered their time at development organizations in Africa or Canada.
Glee: not just for actors
An unexpected talent common to many of the winners is a good singing voice. Two of the winners, Joseph Singh and Michael Mackley, are members of a cappella groups. Anthony Payne and Kylie de Chastelain are also accomplished singers.
Praising interdisciplinary studies and great teachers
Suzanne Newing credits the importance of “enabling” students to discover their interests and passions with her success. Echoing that statement Saumya Krishna wrote: “I feel that breadth and exposure to a variety of fields is important.” Several stressed the significance of having an inspiring teacher or mentor.
The Rhodes Scholarship had another Canadian connection this year. Canadian billionaire John McCall MacBain, a former Rhodes Scholar who made his fortune in the classified magazine business, pledged $120 million to the scholarship fund. The Rhodes Scholarship had no need for donations prior to 2010, but the recession and the rising costs of education were forcing the scholarship to run an unstable deficit.
While the fund has since stabilized, MacBain and others are now hoping to open the award to students outside the commonwealth – a limitation many perceive to be one of award’s last weaknesses.
“The world has changed since Cecil Rhodes wrote his will,” said Margaret MacMillan, a Rhodes trustee and warden of St. Antony’s College, Oxford, echoing the need to expand to developing countries.
The University of Guelph has seen two of its students win the Rhodes Scholarship since 2005. Arani Kajenthira, who studied engineering at the U of G, won the scholarship to pursue earth sciences at Oxford in 2005; and Kate Smolina, who studied biomedical science at the U of G, won the scholarship to pursue global health science at Oxford in 2007.