Hertford Launches New Graduate Scholarships for International Students

31 March 2023

Hertford College has a proud tradition of being at the vanguard of broadening access to Oxford. Our pioneering approach to admissions in the 1960s levelled the playing field in making an Oxford education available to the most talented undergraduates, regardless of background. We are now working hard to increase opportunities for the highest potential international graduate students, as a key part of our Hertford 2030 aspirations.

This year we welcomed on full scholarships three graduate students – including from Ukraine – who are either from displaced backgrounds or working on international development and refugee studies.

As part of the same effort, Hertford College is now pleased to announce two new graduate scholarship schemes, which will enable students from under-represented countries to study at the college.

The Refugee Academic Futures – Asseily Scholarship has been developed as part of the University of Oxford’s Refugee Academic Futures programme. Thanks to the generous support of Alexander Asseily and in partnership with the University, we will be able to bring an outstanding student who has been displaced by conflict, persecution, or other serious human rights violations or deprivations. This scholarship will be named after George and Alexandra Asseily, for their pioneering work on peace and reconciliation.

The AfOx-Hertford Sibusiso Scholarship, in partnership with the Africa Oxford Initiative (AfOx), will fund five African graduate students to study at Oxford. We are grateful to John Doble (History, 1962) for his generosity in supporting this scholarship. John worked in the Diplomatic Service and spent much of his working life in Africa. He has chosen to give the scholarship the name ‘Sibusiso’, which means ‘blessing’ in Zulu, Swazi and Ndebele. The name is inspired by two remarkable Swazi South Africans, who became close friends of John’s: Sibusiso Vilane and Sibusiso Mamba. The programme will support passionate, locally rooted, and globally minded African young people to undertake graduate studies at the University of Oxford, working to increase the number of African graduate students at the University from 3% to 10%.

Principal Tom Fletcher said: “We hope that these scholarships will attract brilliant future students from countries that don’t traditionally send so many students to Oxford. They will enrich the academic life and community at Hertford, and Oxford more widely. We are grateful to our supporters for their generosity and vision, and look forward to finding, welcoming and supporting our new members.”

Alexander Asseily said: “As a pioneering diplomat and educator, Tom Fletcher has shown us a more compassionate way of connecting across cultures, and how to use the power of education to uplift often unseen communities that deserve hope. I’m thrilled that our family is able to is able to play a small part in supporting Tom and Hertford College to catalyse these promising talents to their full potential.”

John Doble said: “The aim of the Sibusiso scholarships is to enable African students to study at Oxford and gain the knowledge, skills, and networks to enable them to contribute to Africa’s development and be a blessing to the society.”