About
The Thatcher Scholarships are a new initiative by Somerville College and the University of Oxford, made possible as a result of the support of a number of generous benefactors.
The aims of the Thatcher Scholarships are to foster academic excellence, to support individuals who have a determination to succeed and to equip them to excel in their chosen field.
The scholarships for postgraduates will be known as the Oxford-Qatar-Thatcher Graduate Scholarship and the Oxford-Thatcher Graduate Scholarships. The Oxford-Qatar-Thatcher Graduate Scholarship has been created as a result of a £3 million donation by the Qatar Development Fund, which supports international education, health and economic development causes. This will create at least four scholarships at both undergraduate and postgraduate level, the first of which is expected to be awarded in 2017/18 to a postgraduate student.
In the early years as we build up the number of Thatcher Scholars, Somerville will operate a rota of departments/faculties for the awards. In 2017/18, three scholarships will be available for students starting postgraduate study, one in the Faculty of English Language and Literature, the Department of Engineering Science and the Faculty of Law.
This scholarship is part of the Oxford Graduate Scholarships, which were established through a ground-breaking new matched funding initiative to enable the creation of fully-funded scholarships for graduate students of the highest calibre from across the world. The University contributes 40% of the funds for these scholarships, together with 60% from generous donations provided by supporters of Somerville College.
The scholarship is only tenable at Somerville College. All eligible applicants will be considered for this scholarship, regardless of which college (if any) you state as your preference on the graduate application form. However, successful applicants will be transferred to Somerville College in order to take up the scholarship.
The scholarship will cover 100% of University and college fees and a grant for living costs of at least £14,296. Awards are made for the full duration of your fee liability for the agreed course.
Background
The late Lady Thatcher, then Margaret Roberts, studied Chemistry at Somerville College Oxford from 1943 to 1946. Coming from a modest financial background, she received bursary and scholarship support from the College, for which she always remained grateful. She went on to become not only the first woman but also the first scientist to be Prime Minister of the UK, from 1979 to 1990.
Following Lady Thatcher’s death in 2013, Somerville College established the Margaret Thatcher Scholarship Trust in her memory to fund and administer scholarships.
More information can be found on Somerville College's webpage.
Scholarship outcomes
Decisions are expected to be made by April 2017. If you have not heard from us by this time, then please assume that your application has been unsuccessful. Due to the volume of applications we receive, we regret that we are unable to contact unsuccessful applicants individually or provide feedback on applications.
Eligibility
You must be applying to start a new full- or part-time course in one of the following departments: Faculty of English Language and Literature, Department of Engineering Science, Faculty of Law.
The Oxford-Qatar-Thatcher-Scholarship is available to all candidates, with a preference for students ordinarily resident in the following countries:
Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, Yemen.
Scholarships will be awarded on the basis of academic merit.
Applicants who hold deferred offers to start in 2017-18 are not eligible to be considered for these scholarships.
Application and Deadline
In order to be considered for this scholarship, you must submit your application for graduate study by the relevant January deadline for your course (6 January or 20 January 2017. See the Courses page for the deadline applicable to your course).
To be eligible for consideration for this scholarship, applicants must be successful in being offered a place on their course after consideration of applications received by the relevant January deadline for the course. Course applications which are held over after the January deadline to be re-evaluated against applications received by the March deadline or course applications which have been put on a waiting list are not eligible for scholarship consideration.