Oxford's Skoll Scholarships in Social Entrepreneurship for International Masters Students

The Skoll Scholarship is a competitive scholarship for incoming MBA students at Oxford University who pursue entrepreneurial solutions for urgent social and environmental challenges.

The Scholarship provides funding and exclusive opportunities to meet with world-renowned entrepreneurs, thought-leaders and investors. Once selected, these students are known as Skoll Skollars.

The Skoll scholarship provides tuition for social entrepreneurs who have set up or have been working in social enterprises, and who wish to improve their knowledge of market-oriented practices so they can be more effective in their subsequent social change pursuits.

The scholarship will cover the whole length of the program

The Skoll Scholarship covers full costs of Said Business School tuition and college fees. The Scholarship also covers partial living expenses based on need, up to an additional £8,000.

The Scholarship Committee assesses need based on previous earnings, geographical location, and future earning potential. Students will be responsible for meeting the financial guarantee by other means necessary. In exceptional cases, the Scholarship Committee may consider requests for full scholarship coverage up to the financial guarantee.


CRITERIA

To be eligible for the Skoll Scholarship, you must be accepted to the Oxford MBA programme, and meet the following criteria:

Candidates must have started or worked in a social venture for 12 months or longer.
   
Candidates must demonstrate evidence of personal qualities strongly resonating with social entrepreneurship leadership, and illustrate how these have influenced their career path thus far. These qualities include:
       
Single-mindedness and persistence in pursuit of a social benefit goal, including a willingness to face failure and start again
       
A bias towards action rather than reflection
       
A tendency to explore the environment for opportunities and resources
       
A willingness to take personal, and sometimes financial, risks
       
A habit of developing a network and subtly or unsubtly exploiting its members.
   
Candidates must demonstrate how a business education can contribute to the wider development of the community they work with in the social entrepreneurship movement. They will need to illustrate why a business degree at this stage of their career trajectory can help them amplify their impact.
   
Candidates must demonstrate some evidence of their need for the scholarship. This may be exhibited, for example, in previous work experiences or personal backgrounds which make self-funding the MBA a significant financial burden.


Criterion for selection is based on the following:

All the candidates are required to take the GMAT test for entry to Oxford’s MBA programme.
   
Candidates whose first language is not English or who have not studied at an English speaking University are required to take either the TOEFL or IELTS tests.
   
Demonstrate evidence of need for financial support.

HOW TO APPLY

In order to apply for the Skoll Scholarship you first need to apply and be accepted onto the Saïd Business School's MBA programme. To be formally considered for a Skoll Scholarship, you need to state your interest in the "Scholarships" section of the online MBA application form, found on the official website.

When your MBA application is submitted, the MBA admissions team will first assess your application to ensure that you meet the academic requirements sought by Saïd Business School. Then, if you are accepted into the MBA programme, the Skoll Centre will send you an essay question that needs to be completed in order for you to be considered for the Scholarship.

Please do not request the Skoll scholarship essay from the admission team – you will receive it from the Skoll Centre following your acceptance to the MBA programme.

NB: The Skoll Center cannot consider candidates who have not been accepted by the School for the MBA.

It is important to visit the official website (link to it is below) for complete information on how to apply.


DEADLINE

For this application year, candidates must apply in Stages 1 and 2 or Stages 3 and 4 of the Oxford MBA application rounds to be considered for the Scholarship. Details on the application timeline are as below. Candidates are urged to apply as early as possible.
Item     Stage 1 & 2     Stage 3 & 4
MBA Application Deadline     15 September 2014 (Stage 1) / 31 October 2014 (Stage 2)     9 January 2015 (Stage 3) / 13 March 2015 (Stage 4)
MBA final decision from SBS     17 October 2014 (Stage 1) / 5 December 2014 (Stage 2)     27 February 2015 (Stage 3) / 24 April 2015 (Stage 4)
Skoll essay sent to candidates     15 December 2014     27 April 2015
Skoll essay deadline     11 January 2015     10 May 2015
Skoll interview decision by     30 January 2015     20 May 2015
Skoll final decision by     9 March 2015     22 June 2015

PLEASE NOTE:

Waiving the admissions fee:
The Skoll Centre wants to provide educational opportunities to a diverse range of social entrepreneurs, including those from developing or marginalized communities, or those who are putting their time into a social venture at significant personal cost. If you are unsalaried or have an income which may preclude you from applying to study on the MBA programme because you cannot afford the admissions fee, we reserve the right to waive your fee. This is done on a discretionary basis and is non-negotiable.

If you would like to apply for a waiver, you should be confident you meet the requirements for the MBA and the Skoll Scholarship, then send us your CV and a covering letter explaining your financial circumstances.

CONTACT HERE

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