UK: Fully Funded Global Development Institute (GDI) Merit Scholarships , 2019

The University of Manchester is inviting applications for the Global Development Institute (GDI) Merit Awards for Masters Students from selected countries in Africa in the UK for the 2019/2020 academic session.
The Global Development Institute (GDI) made the availability of six scholarships for academically excellent professionals studying a GDI campus-based master’s course beginning in September 2019.
Through their unique combination of disciplines and specialist expertise, they are positioned to influence the grand challenges of this century, notably poverty eradication, securing social justice, environmental change, and sustainable urbanism.
The University of Manchester is a public research university in Manchester, England, formed in 2004 by the merger of the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology and the Victoria University of Manchester. The University of Manchester is a red brick university, a product of the civic university movement of the late 19th century.
The main campus is south of Manchester city centre on Oxford Road. In 2016/17, the university had 40,490 students and 10,400 staff, making it the second largest university in the UK (out of 167 including the Open University), and the largest single-site university. The university had a consolidated income of £1 billion in 2017–18, of which £298.7 million was from research grants and contracts (6th place nationally behind Oxford, UCL, Cambridge, Imperial and Edinburgh). It has the
fourth-largest endowment of any university in the UK, after the universities of Cambridge, Oxford and Edinburgh. It is a member of the worldwide Universities Research Association, the Russell Group of British research universities and the N8 Group. For 2018–19, the University of Manchester was ranked 29th in the world and 6th in the UK by QS World University Rankings. In 2017 it was ranked 38th in the world and 6th in the UK by Academic Ranking of World Universities, 55th in the world and 8th in the UK by Times Higher Education World University Rankings and 59th in the world by U.S. News and World Report. Manchester was ranked 15th in the UK amongst multi-faculty institutions for the quality (GPA) of its research and 5th for its Research Power in the 2014 Research Excellence Framework.
The university owns and operates major cultural assets such as the Manchester Museum, Whitworth Art Gallery, John Rylands Library and Jodrell Bank Observatory and its Grade I listed Lovell Telescope.
The University of Manchester has 25 Nobel laureates among its past and present students and staff, the fourth-highest number of any single university in the United Kingdom. Four Nobel laureates are currently among its staff – more than any other British university

Scholarship Benefits

The scholarships typically cover

• Tuition fees,
• Living expenses,
• Flights to the UK, and visas.

Eligibility Requirements

• Be an academically excellent professional’s resident citizen of Ghana, Kenya, Zambia or Zimbabwe and have not previously studied outside Africa;
• Hold a bachelor’s degree with a First Class Honours (1st) classification or its international equivalent;
• Have at least three years of relevant post-graduation work experience (this does not include unpaid internships or voluntary work);
• Have a clear idea of how studying in Manchester will benefit both their career and the wider community.
• Please only apply if you fully meet all of the eligibility criteria

Application Procedure

• Applications for the scholarship should be made through the dedicated application form.
• It is not necessary to have an academic offer of admission to apply for the scholarship. There is no advantage or disadvantage in having an academic offer.
• If you are selected for the scholarship you will be automatically admitted for the course of your choice.
• Please note that you will be asked to electronically submit the following documents at the end of the application.
• They recommend that you prepare these documents in advance as they cannot be added to your application after submissions:
• two up-to-date signed references (one academic and one professional). References must be on letter headed paper. References do not need to be sent confidentially and there is no fixed format;
• degree certificate(s) and transcript(s) showing the subjects you have taken and the grades achieved. Temporary copies or certificates of graduation will suffice for this application);
• English language test certificate;
• up-to-date curriculum vitae (CV);
• A 500-word personal statement detailing how studying at the University of Manchester will benefit both your career and the wider community.

Official Scholarship Website