Commonwealth Scholarship and Fellowship Plan

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The Commonwealth Scholarship and Fellowship Plan (CSFP) is an international program where Commonwealth governments offer scholarships and fellowships to citizens of other Commonwealth countries. It began when Sidney Earle Smith proposed it in Montreal on 1 September 1958, and it started in 1959 at the first Conference of Commonwealth Education Ministers in Oxford. Since then, more than 25,000 people have held awards in over twenty countries. The CSFP is a major way the Commonwealth shares opportunities.

There is no single governing body. Instead, each country makes bilateral arrangements with other countries. Each country has a national nominating agency that advertises awards and nominates candidates to host countries. In the United Kingdom, the biggest contributor, the plan is run by the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission in Britain, a public body funded by the Department for International Development. Since 2008, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office stopped funding the plan, reducing the number of scholarships for students from more developed Commonwealth countries (Australia, the Bahamas, Brunei, Canada, Cyprus, Malta, New Zealand, and Singapore) to study in Britain. Other countries, such as Australia, no longer offer CSFP scholarships.

Recent reforms aim to align scholarships with mutual interests in business and innovation between Commonwealth nations. During President Tony Tan’s 2014 visit to the UK, Queen Elizabeth II announced the Royal Commonwealth Society of Singapore would be re-established to promote the Commonwealth and to provide new Commonwealth Scholarships and Fellowships in Innovation for Singaporeans. The first Innovation scholarships were awarded in August 2017 to Joshua Cheong and Dr Khoo Hsien Hui by Sajid Javid.