Scholarship
We believe that southern Africa’s development depends on strong leadership in key fields.
Canon Collins scholars are outstanding academics and professionals who are dedicated to the development of their countries.
Scholarships Alert
To find out when scholarships become available
The dates scholarships open depends on so many things that we can't give you advance notice. Sign up to be notified as soon as a scholarship becomes available.
Sign Up →
News Alert
Stay in Touch with our Scholar and Alumni Community
If you're thinking of applying, spend some time getting to know us. Sign up to our quarterly alumni e-newsletter to receive the latest news and invitations to upcoming events.
Subscribe →
Useful Info
Alternative Sources of Funding
If you find that you are ineligible for a Canon Collins scholarship, here are some helpful resources and sources of alternative funding.
Go →
A Guide to Applying Successfully for a Canon Collins Scholarship
Ace Your Application
About our Scholarships
Canon Collins Trust has been running scholarship programmes for southern African candidates since 1981. During this time, the Trust has supported more than 4,000 scholars from 14 southern African countries. Today the Trust runs undergraduate and postgraduate scholarship programmes for study in the UK, Ireland, South Africa and Malawi. Each year we enable more than 100 leaders to study at postgraduate level in South Africa, Ireland and the UK.
Strategic Impact in South Africa
The context
Access to educational opportunities beyond the age of 18 remains severely unequal in southern Africa. Recent reports have shown that within the South African academic community, only 14% of professors are black, with black women representing only 2%. The demand for tertiary education, however, is high. A 2009 report from the Southern Africa Labour and Development Research Unit (SALDRU) has highlighted that the returns on investing in a university education are significant, and that there is a real desire among southern Africans to extend their studies for reasons of both professional development and advancing change in society through enhanced expertise.
Supporting exceptional individuals
At Canon Collins Trust, we believe that tertiary education is both empowering for individuals and transformative for societies. Consequently, our scholars, through a bespoke online selection process run by our scholarships department and trained assessors using a common scoring matrix, must demonstrate their commitment to social justice and that they share our values of agency, learning, collaboration, solidarity and fairness.
Canon Collins scholars are at the forefront of research, activism and leadership in southern Africa. We enable talented individuals to pursue postgraduate and doctoral studies to help shape southern African knowledge economies through dedicated research, whilst combatting critical shortfalls in national development strategies. Our mission is to be able to offer an increasing number of scholarships to expand our presence and welcome more aspiring researchers and activists into our ever-growing network of change agents.
Exceptional Individuals