In October 2000, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation of Seattle, Washington, USA announced a donation to the University of Cambridge of $210 million to establish the Gates Cambridge Trust.
This benefaction creates in perpetuity an international scholarship programme to enable outstanding graduate students from outside the United Kingdom to study at the University of Cambridge. The Trustees are required to award scholarships on the basis of a person's intellectual ability, leadership capacity and desire to use their knowledge to contribute to society throughout the world by providing service to their communities and applying their talents and knowledge to improve the lives of others.
Deadline:
- US citizens: the GRADSAF form and supporting documents must arrive at the University by 15 October 2009.
- Non-US citizens: the GRADSAF form and supporting documents must arrive at the University by 15 December 2009.
Who is eligible
Candidates for a Gates Cambridge Scholarship:
- may be citizens of any country outside the United Kingdom.
- may apply to study any subject available at the University of Cambridge.
- must apply to pursue one of the following full-time residential courses of study:
- Research leading to the PhD degree
- One-year post-graduate courses (e.g. MPhil, LLM, Diploma, CASM or Part III Maths, MBA etc.)
- 2 year MSc degree
- Second Bachelor degree as an Affiliated Student
- MBBChir Clinical Studies
- must be admitted to Cambridge through the University's normal academic procedures. The Trust cannot admit students.
- must have a first class or high second class honours degree, or its equivalent, from a recognised university. For universities which work according to the North American pattern, candidates will be expected to have excellent transcripts with high GPA scores showing evidence of sustained achievement in study, together with the type of academic references which speak of the candidate's leadership potential, social commitment, intellectual ability and why further study at Cambridge is particularly appropriate. The Gates Cambridge Trust does not require candidates to take a GRE test, although some Departments in Cambridge may do so; candidates should check the relevant section of the Graduate Studies Prospectus.
- must be well prepared for the Cambridge course for which they are applying and must meet the academic criteria for admission specified by the University. Some courses may have particular requirements for admission, and details of these can be found in the relevant sections of the Graduate Studies Prospectus for graduate applicants, or the Undergraduate Prospectus for affiliated applicants.
- who are not native speakers of English are required by the University to provide proof of their proficiency in the English language to meet the minimum standard required for admission to Cambridge. For further information see English language requirements for graduate applicants or English language requirements for affiliated applicants.
- from countries of the European Union who intend to pursue graduate study or research must, where eligible, apply for public fees awards offered by the Research Councils by the relevant deadlines.
- who are already studying at Cambridge are only eligible to apply for a Gates Cambridge Scholarship if they are applying for a new course of study (e.g. a one year ‘MPhil only’ student may apply for funding to continue on to the PhD). Candidates already studying at Cambridge who are not applying for a new course of study (e.g. have already started their PhD) are not eligible to be considered for a Gates Cambridge Scholarship.
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