The University of Oxford, one of the leading universities in the world, will soon be offering a post-graduate Scholarship to a BGU graduate, the two universities agreed recently. The Scholarships will be offered at Exeter College, Oxford and will be open to Masters and PhD graduates of any disciplines, with priority given to outstanding candidates who are women, minorities or from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Founded in 1314, Exeter College celebrates diversity and excellence in teaching and research. Its Academic Fellows come from a dozen different countries, as far away as India, Australia and the USA to as close as Europe. Unique among the Oxford colleges, it has its own Careers and Internships Office to help students excel after graduation and boasts strong integration between undergraduates, graduates and Fellows.
Registrar of the University Prof. Ewan McKendrick welcomed the Scholarships as a "refreshing idea for promoting all that is best at universities." "This is the first time that any Israeli university has partnered with Oxford University," said Rector Frances Cairncross, noting that the connection will hopefully nurture personal relationships between the two universities.
"The Rivka Carmi Scholarships will broaden the horizons of BGU students through the one-of-a-kind relationship with this exceptional educational institute," said Prof. Raymond Dwek, of the Glycobiology Institute at Oxford and Emeritus Fellow of Exeter College who has been a close partner in the creation of the Scholarship as well as the creation of the British-Israel Life Sciences Council of which he and Prof. Carmi are co-chairs. Dwek noted that collaboration between Oxford and BGU was foretold as visionary first prime minister of Israel David Ben-Gurion once remarked, “…I dream of a sort of Hebrew Oxford in the Negev.”
The program is named after the current BGU President Prof. Rivka Carmi, who became the first female dean of an Israeli medical school and the first woman president of an Israeli university. Carmi has also devoted much of her professional career – both medical and administrative – to working with those on the margins of society striving to improve their lives.
“I am humbled and honored by the initiative of BGU’s great supporter and my personal advisor and friend Prof. Raymond Dwek, whose commitment to help BGU realize David Ben-Gurion's dream to create an Oxford in the desert has inspired us all. I hope that this initiative will open new opportunities for collaborations between the two Institutes to promote education and science,” Prof. Carmi said.
