Commonwealth Scholarships, UK is one of the most prestigious and highly competitive awards among eligible Commonwealth countries. The scholarships are managed by Commonwealth Scholarship Commission (CSC) with their headquarters located in London. The commission offers a wide range of scholarships both for master’s and PhD programs, most of which are listed below.

The various forms of the scholarship include:

• Commonwealth shared scholarship;
• Commonwealth master's scholarship;
• Commonwealth PhD scholarship;
• Commonwealth split-site scholarship;
• Commonwealth distance learning scholarship;
• Commonwealth PhD fellowship; etc.

This article details on the Commonwealth Shared Scholarship. Although some of the information provided here might be useful with regards to others forms of the scholarship but I strongly advise that you take your time to research on them.

Commonwealth Shared Scholarship

The Shared Scholarship is one the numerous forms of scholarship offered by Commonwealth Scholarship Commission (CSC) every year. It is a fully funded master's scholarship programme attainable at any selected UK universities. The scholarship is open to all eligible commonwealth countries (http://cscuk.dfid.gov.uk/apply/shared-scholarships/). Click on the provided link for the list of eligible countries and other vital information. Annually, a list of eligible courses with their respective institutions and numbers of nomination slots assigned to them are published; usually few weeks before the actual scholarship application portal (EAS portal) opens. This is to allow all eligible candidates to start applying for admission ahead of time.

Link 1: List of eligible courses and universities for 2020 academic year. http://cscuk.dfid.gov.uk/apply/shared-scholarships/courses/

Link 2: Contact details of the participating institutions and their number of scholarship slots for 2020 academic year: http://cscuk.dfid.gov.uk/universities/

Kindly note that the information provided in the links above are subject to review annually. Therefore, the information therein only serves to give you a clue of what to expect.

Applying for Admission into the Institutions

Obtaining an offer from your choice institutions or universities is an important aspect of the whole scholarship process. Before you start applying to schools, it is advisable that you;

§ List the courses you want to apply for with the participating institutions offering them as sampled in Link 1.

§ Check for the admission requirements of the selected institutions especially their English language requirement. While some schools accept O'Level result like WAEC for West African countries with minimum of C4 in English and (or) Medium of Instruction as an evidence of been taught in English in your previous degree (s), others might require you to write an English test (usually IELTS).

§ Prepare to write a good Personal Statement for each of your courses; detailing your reasons for applying to the course including the knowledge you expect to acquire and why you have chosen the university among other UK universities offering similar program.

NOTE: With regards to the shared scholarship, you can only apply to your choice courses in the specified institution as sampled in Link 1 above. You are not permitted to apply to any course(s) not listed but you are at liberty to apply to as many listed courses as you desire depending on your capacity. The institutions you applied to will serve as your 'Nominating Agency' for the Scholarship. This implies that they will review your submissions and recommend you to CSC for the scholarship based on the strength of your application.

Securing an offer from UK universities is not that difficult provided you meet all the necessary requirements with a good personal statement.

Applying for the Commonwealth Shared Scholarship

This is arguably the most important aspect of the whole scholarship process. The EAS portal ( a web link for the scholarship application) usually opens during the last few months of the year. The number of applications you will make on the portal depends on the number of institutions or universities you have applied to or secured an offer. You can start this stage while waiting for an offer from your various institutions. Open separate applications on the portal for each institution and provide the unique student reference number given you to when you by the institution.

Requirements

The following are important information you will have to provide during your application on the EAS portal. Some required documents like academic transcripts or degree certificate might not be at your disposal now but you can start to get them ready ahead of time before the application starts.

• Academic Qualifications; the minimum requirement for application is second class upper (2:1) grade or equivalent in your first degree; hence having a very good result can be an advantage.
• Work Experience; ensure to list all your work experience not only those particular to your field of study but all other relevant ones.
• Professional Qualifications; Belonging to a number of relevant professional bodies prior to your application can strengthen your application but it is not a compulsory requirement.
• Academic publications; this is also not compulsory (I did not have any during my application) but having one or more will boost your application especially when a decision is to be made between two similar applications.
• Academic distinctions or prizes; these include all the recognition you might have received for your academic performance at any point during your academic life.
• Reference Letters: you will be required to submit the details of three referees in support of your application, usually someone that have good knowledge of your academic background or professional experience. Ensure that you inform them well ahead of time that you will be requirement their assistance with your application. Unlike before where your referees will be required to provide references for all your applications which are usually cumbersome if you have multiple applications, the new review which took effect in 2019 requires your referees to submit references after you are recommended for the scholarship.

You will be required to write the following essays in support of your application.

• Development Impact; the major objective of the scholarship is for you to acquire knowledge that will contribute to the development of your country. Hence, you are expected to write in clear terms what your country stands to benefit in terms of development contributions and how you are going to be a change agent in a particular sector of the economy. So you have to identify a development problem in your country relative to your area of career interest, the socio-economic impact of such problem, the current limitations to addressing the problem and explain how you intend to contribute to addressing it with your acquired knowledge and skills upon your return. You will also be required to provide how the impact of your development contributions can be measured.
• Personal Statement; this is also known as your motivation for the scholarship and is different from the personal statement you wrote for your university application, it is about how your background has encouraged you to want to make a contribution to development in your country. You should also indicate areas in which you have already contributed, such as in overcoming any personal or community barriers to higher education.
• Voluntary and Leadership Experience; Here you are expected to summarise the ways in which you have engaged in voluntary activities and the opportunities you have had to demonstrate leadership.
• Career Plans; you will be asked to state in clear terms your career plans in the short term (usually five years following the award) and long term after the award.
• Objectives during the award; you will be required to provide your objectives (i.e. what you intend to achieve) while on the scholarship like networking, attending seminars, training, joining professional bodies, experiencing the culture of the country, etc.
• Study Outline
• Detailed Plan of study

NOTE: You will need your international passport during your application as evidence that you are ready to travel if awarded the scholarship. You will be asked to provide some information on your passport. CSC does not require an English test from you for your application, only the institutions or universities might require that from you.

Finally, when you are satisfied with all the information you provided to each sections, you can go ahead and submit your application which will subsequently be forwarded to your nominating agency for consideration. Note that each university or institution might have a unique deadline for submission, so ensure you comply accordingly.

Nomination or Reservation

After your application has been considered together with other applications, each institution will nominate the successful candidates according to the number of slots available to them. For instance, if an institution has five scholarship slots, they will nominate five successful candidates and another five will be placed on reserve. The reserve is to replace accordingly any nominated candidate who decides to reject the offer for whatsoever reason. Afterward, the universities usually send emails to all the successful candidates.

Confirmation of Award

The names of the successful candidates are forwarded to Commonwealth Scholarship Commission (CSC) responsible for final confirmation of your award. When they have concluded their background checks and certified your nomination, some forms (acceptance and medical report forms) will usually be sent to you to complete and return after which a confirmation of award letter will be issued. At this point, you can start making all the necessary preparations for VISA application and getting ready to travel. The information and procedures for this stage will be communicated to you by CSC and your school accordingly.

My Personal Experience in a Brief

A lot of prospective commonwealth scholars usually ask how I was able to secure the commonwealth shared scholarship at my first attempt given its high competitiveness.

Firstly, I will say it was the Grace of God that singled me out for the favour as I was not expecting it when the congratulatory email dropped. Hence the God factor cannot be overemphasised, but you must do your part diligently. I applied to four universities and got one nomination with no reserve.

I got to know about the scholarship through a friend of mine that we graduated from the same university, after gathering some information on the requirements, I decided to apply for it. It was during my National Youth Service Year, I have little work experience, no publications a good academic grade. I started writing all the essays afterwards, I gave them to some of my friends (not only those in my academic field) to proofread and make suggestions where necessary. Being my first time of writing such essays, I made a lot of research on how to go about it. Thereafter, I submitted my applications and to the glory of God, it was successful.

NOTE: If you can get a mentor preferably a scholar who will guide you through the application process and provide you with vital insights that will be cool; but you should be aware that the majority of the work is on you. Having a mentor is not a guarantee anyway, as you will need your personal creativity to write unique essays. As the saying goes, "what is worth doing at all is worth doing well", so give it your best shot.

I wish you the very best!!!

For more information, visit the CSC website at http://cscuk.dfid.gov.uk/shared-scholarships

Author: Okafor Sunday Chizoba

Commonwealth Shared Scholar, Nottingham Trent University, 2018/19