2007 Rhodes Scholar to be announced

The Governor of Queensland, Her Excellency Ms Quentin Bryce, AC, will announce the 2007 Queensland Rhodes Scholar at around 4.15pm tomorrow (Tuesday, October 24) at Government House.

The selection committee will interview six short-listed candidates before choosing the one who will take up the scholarship at the University of Oxford next year.

The Queensland Rhodes Scholar will join five winners from the other states and five from Australia-at-Large.

This year the selection committee received 20 applications for the scholarship.

Note to News Editors and Chiefs of Staff

The successful candidate for 2007 will be available after the announcement for photographs and interviews at Government House.

Please contact Elizabeth Kerr, UQ Communications (07 3365 2339, 0422 940 572), prior to the event for security clearance.

For further information, contact Mr Douglas Porter, Honorary Secretary of the Queensland Rhodes Scholarship Selection Committee (telephone 07 3365 1310).

Background to Rhodes Scholarships

Rhodes Scholarships, founded in 1902 under the will of the late Cecil John Rhodes, are tenable at the University of Oxford for an initial two years, with the possibility of a third. Candidates must be aged between 19 and 25 years and citizens of the country from which they are selected.

Scholarships are assigned annually in Australia, Canada, India, Jamaica, New Zealand, Zambia, Zimbabwe, South Africa, the United States, Germany, British Caribbean, Malaysia, Singapore, Pakistan, Kenya and Hong Kong.

Australia receives eleven – one for each state and five for Australia-at-large.

Since the scheme began, about 500 Rhodes Scholars have been selected. Women became eligible in 1972.

The first Rhodes Scholarship awarded in Queensland was in 1904 by Arthur Stanley Roe, five years before an Act of Parliament was passed to set up The University of Queensland.

The qualities set out by the late Cecil Rhodes for those seeking Rhodes Scholarships include academic and intellectual excellence, integrity of character, respect for fellow beings and a capacity for leadership. Sporting prowess is an advantage, but not a necessity.