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����Թ� has secured 15  (CSC) scholarships to award to exceptional international scholars to study either:

• MSc Agroforestry and Food Security (distance learning), or

• MSc Tropical Forestry (distance-learning)

starting in September 2022. These full scholarships were secured by the School of Natural Sciences (SNS) of ����Թ� following an extremely competitive bidding process against other top UK universities.

These scholarships are exclusively for scholars from developing Commonwealth countries: Ghana, India, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, The Gambia, Uganda and Zambia. Scholarships cover all tuition fees and a generous bursary to enable scholars to attend a compulsory two-week study tour scheduled to be held in a tropical country (*Covid-19 restrictions permitting). A small study grant is also available to help scholars with study costs associated with distance learning (e.g. internet usage).

“Once again our highly acclaimed distance learning programmes, which continue to attract outstanding scholars of the highest calibre, have been recognised by the CSC.”, commented Programme Director for MSc Tropical Forestry, Dr James Walmsley.  “These distance-learning scholarships enable outstanding scholars from across the Commonwealth to study for their MSc, whilst living and working in their own countries. Our scholars are typically professionals already working in forestry, agroforestry and natural resource management, meaning they are able to build on what they learn through their studies in a very direct and tangible manner.

“We go to great efforts to create a vibrant and supportive ‘learning community’.  A dedicated team of academic staff with a diverse range of expertise work closely to develop new and exciting teaching materials, with ever-greater use being made of e-learning technologies to enhance student learning, collegiality and academic rigour.” 

One of our recent graduates (Tankiso Lechesa from Lesotho) commented: “Being a distance learning student at ����Թ� was very rewarding due to the teaching methods that were applied such as online lectures and seminars, group discussions and residential study tours. These teaching methods brought students and the lecturing team very close and created mutual relationships amongst them.” (read more here).

We have a diverse group of distance learning students from research institutes, public and private forest management bodies, environmental NGOs and other related organisations from over 20 different countries.  We run a Tropical Forestry Study Tour, ensuring all scholars and the teaching team meet in person, get to know each other and discover and learn together in a tropical forestry environment. For many, this is the .

The School of Natural Sciences has been running part-time forestry-related distance-learning courses since 2002 with the first intake of CSC scholars in 2011. Since then, our scholars and graduates have become great ambassadors for ����Թ� and for the CSC. The CSC scholarship has given our distance-learning students and graduates a rare opportunity to study for an international postgraduate degree at one of the UK’s most respected institutes in its field.

Further information about how to apply can be found here.