Applications for the Mandela Rhodes Scholarship 2027 are now open!

The Mandela Rhodes Scholarship is a life-changing leadership journey.

The scholarship combines financial support with a leadership programme that will challenge you, grow you, and connect you to young African changemakers - just like you.

The leadership development programme

Our programme is built on our founding principles of reconciliation, education, entrepreneurship, and leadership, and a belief that leadership begins with inner transformation. We aim to keep Nelson Mandela’s legacy alive by equipping young African leaders with the competence and courage to transform the continent into a place where everyone has equal opportunity to thrive. Our programme is delivered primarily through a series of week-long residential workshops which you will attend during your time in residence.

Financial support The Mandela Rhodes Scholarship offers comprehensive funding for the core costs associated with your studies. It covers tuition for a one-year Honours degree or a two-year Masters degree in any field at a recognised South African institution of higher education. This includes tuition and registration fees, allowances for study materials, research, and medical aid, accommodation and meals, personal allowance and economy class travel to and from your home country to your South African university at the beginning and end of your degree.

How are Mandela Rhodes Scholars selected?

We look for young leaders who aspire to the principles below and who have demonstrated the potential to live them out.

Leadership Do you aspire to be a visionary leader who has moral authority? Do you see leadership as more than just personal ambition - as a way to pursue the advancement of equality and freedom, human rights and human dignity? And do you want to guide and inspire others to reach their full potential?

Reconciliation Do you believe that reconciliation - combined with reparation - is the key to harnessing an imperfect past to develop a more just world? And are you prepared to start the process by looking at your own internal landscape?

Education Do you have excellent academic results but believe that your education should not only benefit you but make a difference for others? And do you agree that intellectual excellence must be accompanied by character and a rounded personality?

Entrepreneurship Do you want to see Africa take its rightful place as an equal and competitive presence in the global world? Have you demonstrated individual effort, innovation and creativity to this end?

Are you ready to grow? To benefit from our programme you must be curious about doing the personal, internal work of leadership. This means a commitment to developing self-awareness by engaging with difficult parts of yourself, an openness to learning from the diversity and differences in your cohort, and a willingness to explore and embrace complexity within yourself, others, and the systems around you.