These Guidance Notes are intended to answer your questions about the Foundation and its scholarship criteria, and also to guide you through completing the application process for Oxford and Cambridge.
The Said Foundation is a charity based in the UK. One of our aims is to promote education and development in the Middle East. To this end, the Foundation offers a number of partial or full-cost scholarships annually to enable graduates to pursue postgraduate courses and other training at Oxford and Cambridge universities. The Foundation will consider applications for one year postgraduate courses and for PhDs/DPhils.
From 2011/12, the Foundation will award one or two PHD scholarships a year. These will be of three years’ duration.
Scholarship criteria for the academic year 2011/2012
As the Foundation’s funds are limited and it receives many applications for scholarships each year, the Board of Trustees sets criteria and priorities for applicants. All applicants must meet these criteria. For the academic year 2011/2012, the Foundation’s criteria are as follows.
Applications are restricted to candidates who are Syrian, Lebanese, Jordanian or Palestinian;
Scholarships are offered for postgraduate study or training only. Applications for undergraduate study cannot be considered.
Applications from candidates who will be forty years old or more at the beginning of the 2011/2012 academic year cannot be considered;
Evidence of proficiency in English is required by the Foundation and must be at the level required by Oxford or Cambridge;
Applicants must hold a first degree of a high enough standard to indicate that they are likely to complete their proposed course of study at Oxford or Cambridge successfully;
Applicants cannot be considered if they have not followed the proper application procedures for Oxford or Cambridge;
Candidates must be in genuine need of partial or full funding;
Successful applicants are required to sign a binding undertaking to apply the skills and knowledge they have gained in one of the Foundation’s target countries (Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Palestine).
Priority will be given to applicants with work experience whose studies will benefit their field of work. Candidates must normally have at least two years work experience but exceptional applicants who do not meet this requirement may be considered;
Applications from candidates whose siblings or spouses are currently being supported by the Foundation cannot be considered.
Applying to the Foundation
The Foundation awards a number of scholarships each academic year at Oxford and Cambridge. There are no quotas per country and scholarships are awarded on the basis of merit. Each application is carefully considered by the trustees and staff of the Foundation and the best candidates overall are chosen. The Foundation bases its decisions on academic record, financial need, likelihood to succeed in the UK, usefulness of subject to the applicant’s country, motivation, future career intentions, practical ability to make use of the knowledge to be gained in the UK on return to the Middle East and personality.
If you are awarded another scholarship and require partial funding, the Foundation is happy to consider this request. The Foundation does not choose its scholars according to how much funding they require but bases its decisions on the factors set out in the paragraph above.
The Application Procedure
Further details on application procedures are found below. Applicants are strongly encouraged to apply online.
The Foundation’s Board of Trustees makes the final selection by end of July at the latested. You will be informed by the Foundation or Oxford or Cambridge of the outcome of your application. The Trustees’ decision is final and there is no right of appeal. Please do not use your contacts to lobby for your scholarship application. This will not help, and may harm, your application.
After submission of your postgraduate course admission application by the required deadline your application is considered by the university. If you are offered a place by the university your application is then considered by the Foundation in London. The Foundation interviews all of the candidates it has shortlisted. Interviews take place in May/June in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Palestine.
