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Clarendon
Scholarship: Introduction
The Clarendon Fund is a major graduate scholarship scheme at the University
of Oxford, offering 100 new scholarships every year. Oxford University
is one of the world's top five universities and the oldest university
in the English-speaking world. Clarendon Scholarships are awarded on
the basis of academic excellence and potential across all degree-bearing
subjects at graduate level at the University of Oxford. The Clarendon
Fund was launched in 2001, and since that time the scholarship has enabled
over 900 international scholars, who represent the elite academic candidates
of their generation, to undertake graduate studies at Oxford.
The Clarendon Fund was established by Oxford University's Council,
the executive policy-forming body of the University consisting of the
Vice-Chancellor, heads of departments and other University members.
The Fund is financed by Oxford University Press, one of the departments
of the University of Oxford; a publishing house which printed its first
book in 1478, only two years after William Caxton established the first
printing press in England. It is the largest University Press in the
world, publishing in multiple academic fields with offices all over
the world.
Edward Hyde, later Earl of Clarendon and also Vice-Chancellor of the
University of Oxford from 1660-1667, wrote a famous and highly profitable
work, History of the Great Rebellion, about the English Civil War of
the 17th century. The profits of his book were used to construct the
University-owned Clarendon Building on Broad Street in central Oxford.
The Clarendon Building was designed to house Oxford University Press
(OUP), and so the Clarendon Fund was named in honour of this famous
building and its historic linkages to OUP, the main benefactor of the
Clarendon Scholarships.
A distinguishing feature of Clarendon scholarships is that scholars
are selected from the leaders in their field - that is, academic departments
nominate whom they believe are the most deserving of their place at
the University of Oxford based on their academic record and ability
to contribute significantly to their field of study, both in the present
and future. This feature ensures the best and brightest minds are selected
as Clarendon scholars.
The Scholarships cover
tuition
and college fees in full and a generous grant for living expenses, and
are open to students starting a new course at Oxford. They are highly
competitive, with less than 10% of applicants selected for the
scholarship.
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