China Oxford Scholarship Fund

The Fund was founded in 1992 to award scholarships to the best Chinese graduates to assist them to take up places to pursue postgraduate studies at the University of Oxford and then return to contribute in leadership positions to the future development of China.

It is actively campaigning to raise ₤25 million to endow twenty to twenty-five scholarships at Oxford solely for Chinese students. It seeks to emulate the success of the Rhodes Scholarship programme, which has helped educate many distinguished American men and women over the last century, amongst them President Bill Clinton. It is this level of excellence that the Fund seeks to emulate.

The Fund sees leadership in terms wider than the political or commercial. It aims to help those who will mould China’s industry and finance, to manage its world-beating manufacturing corporations, to set trends, styles and fashion and to lead its world-class scholarship and research. Leaders, in fact, who will stimulate, formulate and drive the changes which will come to all parts of society in China’s 21^st Century.

The Fund is seeking to establish permanent funding for future generations of Chinese scholars in Oxford by attracting donors with the vision to invest in China’s future and by seeking out students of rare talent who would benefit from the Fund’s help.

Objectives

The Fund aims to build its programme beyond just the provision of scholarships to eventually include the provision of facilities, pastoral and administrative support and alumni links after the completion of postgraduate studies. Currently, though, its most important objective by far is to expand its scholarship programme.

The Fund has decided to expand its programme substantially to create a Rhodes Scholarship-style foundation to link China and Oxford even closer together. In addition, since the Fund’s inception in 1992, the cost of an Oxford postgraduate education has risen considerably, and will continue to do so. We recognise that we need to increase awards to keep pace.

The Fund’s key objectives, therefore, are:

To increase the number of award-holding students to 20-25 a year.

To raise the amount of each award to well over ₤30,000 per student.

To disburse annually a sum of around ₤1,000,000.

To raise capital sums sufficient to endow these scholarship awards, which means a minimum of ₤25 million.

The Fund’s work is conducted through the China Oxford Scholarship Fund in Hong Kong and the United Kingdom, both of which collect donations which are tax-deductible in the respective jurisdictions. Donors in the United States are able to receive tax benefits.