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Rhodes Scholarships Expanding to Include Chinese Students Rhodes Scholarships Expanding to Include Chinese Students
(about 7 hours later)
BEIJING — The organization that administers Rhodes scholarships, the prestigious grant program that sends promising students to the University of Oxford, is preparing to expand to the developing world and other countries and will soon begin naming scholars from China. BEIJING — The organization that administers Rhodes scholarships, the prestigious grant program that sends promising students to the University of Oxford, is preparing to expand to the developing world and other countries and will soon begin naming scholars from China.
The move into China is the first step in what the program expects to be its biggest expansion since it made women eligible in the 1970s. It is meant to cultivate a more diverse crop of young people the program hopes will become leaders in their countries, adding to a list of luminaries that includes Nobel Prize recipients, former President Bill Clinton and Prime Minister Tony Abbott of Australia. The move into China, announced Monday, is the first step in what the program expects to be its biggest expansion since it made women eligible in the 1970s. It is meant to cultivate a more diverse crop of young people the program hopes will become leaders in their countries, adding to a list that includes Nobel Prize recipients, former President Bill Clinton and Prime Minister Tony Abbott of Australia.
By entering China, the program, which has struggled financially in recent years, is also creating a new platform to raise money. But even among the many alumni who believe that an expansion is overdue and that Chinese students should be a part of it, there is some concern about whether the Communist Party will try to exert pressure on the selection process to exclude university students whom the authorities view as critical of the government.By entering China, the program, which has struggled financially in recent years, is also creating a new platform to raise money. But even among the many alumni who believe that an expansion is overdue and that Chinese students should be a part of it, there is some concern about whether the Communist Party will try to exert pressure on the selection process to exclude university students whom the authorities view as critical of the government.
The Rhodes decision comes amid a big push into China by some of the world’s most selective universities seeking new students, new sources of funding and ways to develop programs and research institutes inside the country. The Rhodes decision comes amid a big push into China by some of the world’s most selective universities seeking new students, new sources of funding, and ways to develop programs and research institutes inside the country. The group includes Harvard, Yale and the University of California, Berkeley.
The group includes Harvard, Yale and the University of California, Berkeley. But it also comes at a time when the authorities are pressuring Chinese universities to limit their use of foreign textbooks, which officials say promote “Western values.” But the move also comes at a time when the authorities are pressuring Chinese universities to limit their use of foreign textbooks, which officials say promote “Western values.”
James Fallows, the author and national correspondent for The Atlantic who was elected a Rhodes scholar in 1970, said that he had high hopes for the program’s expansion in China, but he also expressed worries about possible political interference. James Fallows, the author and national correspondent for The Atlantic, who was elected a Rhodes scholar in 1970, said he had high hopes for the program’s expansion in China, but he also expressed worries about possible political interference.
“Over the decades and around the world, a small but significant proportion of Rhodes scholars have been people protesting their own country’s government or working to change its policies,” Mr. Fallows wrote in an email. “A test of the quality of the Chinese program is whether it would be able to consider such candidates.”“Over the decades and around the world, a small but significant proportion of Rhodes scholars have been people protesting their own country’s government or working to change its policies,” Mr. Fallows wrote in an email. “A test of the quality of the Chinese program is whether it would be able to consider such candidates.”
The Rhodes scholarship program was created by the British mining magnate Cecil Rhodes more than a century ago to try to help secure world peace by educating potential leaders, mostly from British colonies, at his beloved Oxford. The concept was that if such top-tier students studied together, they had more of a chance of working out problems peacefully. The British mining magnate Cecil Rhodes created the scholarship program more than a century ago to try to help secure world peace by educating potential leaders, mostly from British colonies, at his beloved Oxford. The concept was that if such top-tier students studied together, they had more of a chance of working out problems peacefully.
Ann Olivarius, a former Rhodes scholar and regular adviser to the Rhodes Trust, said the changes in the program were reflective of a changing world.Ann Olivarius, a former Rhodes scholar and regular adviser to the Rhodes Trust, said the changes in the program were reflective of a changing world.
“The original idea was of its time: to keep Europe at peace,” she said. “We want to educate articulate people in all parts of the world, not just the white, Anglo-centric world.”“The original idea was of its time: to keep Europe at peace,” she said. “We want to educate articulate people in all parts of the world, not just the white, Anglo-centric world.”
Charles Conn, who manages the scholarship program and is a former Rhodes scholar from the United States, dismissed the concerns expressed over possible political interference in China.Charles Conn, who manages the scholarship program and is a former Rhodes scholar from the United States, dismissed the concerns expressed over possible political interference in China.
“This is not our first rodeo,” Mr. Conn said in a telephone interview before the announcement. “We’ve elected Rhodes scholars in some of the most difficult parts of world, including South Africa, India, Pakistan and Zimbabwe, and at difficult times in their history. If the Rhodes Trust is good at anything, it’s selecting energetic and ethical young people.”“This is not our first rodeo,” Mr. Conn said in a telephone interview before the announcement. “We’ve elected Rhodes scholars in some of the most difficult parts of world, including South Africa, India, Pakistan and Zimbabwe, and at difficult times in their history. If the Rhodes Trust is good at anything, it’s selecting energetic and ethical young people.”
Mr. Conn said the Chinese government would play no role in selecting or approving candidates. By this fall, the program is expected to select its first group of scholars from China, between three and six of them. But members of the Rhodes Trust said that if sufficient funds were raised, China could eventually have as many as 32 scholars selected annually, equal to the number chosen from the United States. Mr. Conn said the Chinese government would play no role in selecting or approving candidates. By this fall, the program is expected to select its first group of scholars from China, three to six of them. Members of the Rhodes Trust said that if sufficient funds were raised, as many as 32 Chinese scholars could eventually be selected annually, equal to the number chosen from the United States.
The scholarship program has already won major commitments from wealthy Chinese and Hong Kong businessmen, including a foundation set up by Asia’s wealthiest man, Li Ka-shing. The Rhodes Trust said it also worked with Alvin Jiang, the grandson of former President Jiang Zemin of China and a co-founder of one of China’s biggest private equity firms, in searching for donations in China. The scholarship program has already won major commitments from wealthy Chinese and Hong Kong businessmen, including a foundation set up by Asia’s wealthiest man, Li Ka-shing. The Rhodes Trust said it had also worked with Alvin Jiang, the grandson of former President Jiang Zemin of China and a co-founder of one of China’s biggest private equity firms, in searching for donations in China.
The Rhodes China program announcement was made in Beijing on Monday on the eve of a gala fund-raiser attended by about 250 guests, including tycoons and a few dozen current and former Rhodes scholars.
As interest in China has grown, the country attracted a program inspired by the Rhodes scholarships. In 2013, the chairman of the American private equity firm, the Blackstone Group, helped finance the so-called Schwarzman Scholars program that recruits young people from around the world to study in Beijing.
The Rhodes China initiative began to take shape in 2013, after the Rhodes Trust received a $118 million gift from a foundation set up by John McCall MacBain, the Canadian businessman, philanthropist and former Rhodes scholar. Made on the 110th anniversary of the program, the donation helped replenish a trust that Mr. Rhodes had set up before his death in 1902, but which had come under financial strain beginning in the 1990s, forcing the program at one time to temporarily reduce the number of scholars studying at Oxford.
“If Cecil Rhodes were alive today, where would he want the people to be taken from?” asked Dominic Barton, a former Rhodes scholar from Canada who is now global managing director at the consultancy McKinsey & Co., and is on the board of the Rhodes Trust.
The program “was set up with the geopolitics of the world of the last century. And things have changed. We’re not as representative as we need to be.”