Commonwealth Scholarship Commission scholarships available for MSc programmes in Agroforestry and Tropical Forestry at Bangor University. Apply now!

Bangor University has secured 15 Commonwealth Scholarship Commission (CSC) scholarships to award to exceptional international scholars to study either:

· MSc Agroforestry and Food Security (distance learning), or

· MSc Tropical Forestry (distance-learning)

starting in September 2021. These full scholarships were secured by the School of Natural Sciences (SNS) of Bangor University following an extremely competitive bidding process against other top UK universities.

These scholarships are exclusively for scholars from developing Commonwealth countries: Ghana, Guyana, India, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, The Gambia, Uganda and Zambia. Scholarships are worth £18,000, which covers tuition fees and a generous bursary to enable scholars to attend a compulsory two-week study tour scheduled to be held in a tropical country in July/August 2022 (*Covid-19 restrictions permitting). A small study grant is also available to help scholars with study costs associated with distance learning (e.g. internet usage).

“It’s fantastic news that this year, the CSC has committed to supporting 15 outstanding scholars for our highly acclaimed distance learning programmes”, commented Programme Director for MSc Tropical Forestry, Dr James Walmsley. “These distance-learning scholarships enable outstanding scholars from across the Commonwealth to study for their MSc, whilst living and working in their own countries. Our scholars are typically professionals already working in forestry, agroforestry and natural resource management, meaning they are able to build on what they learn through their studies in a very direct and tangible manner.

“We go to great efforts to create a vibrant and supportive ‘learning community’. A dedicated team of academic staff with a diverse range of expertise work closely to develop new and exciting teaching materials, with ever-greater use being made of e-learning technologies to enhance student learning, collegiality and academic rigour.”

One of our recent graduates (Tankiso Lechesa from Lesotho) commented: “Being a distance learning student at Bangor University was very rewarding due to the teaching methods that were applied such as online lectures and seminars, group discussions and residential study tours. These teaching methods brought students and the lecturing team very close and created mutual relationships amongst them.” (read more here).

We have a diverse group of distance learning students from research institutes, public and private forest management bodies, environmental NGOs and other related organisations from over 20 different countries. We run a Tropical Forestry Study Tour, ensuring all scholars and the teaching team meet in person, get to know each other and discover and learn together in a tropical forestry environment. For many, this is the highlight of the programme.

The School of Natural Sciences has been running part-time forestry-related distance-learning courses since 2002 with the first intake of CSC scholars in 2011. Since then, our scholars and graduates have become great ambassadors for Bangor University and for the CSC. The CSC scholarship has given our distance-learning students and graduates a rare opportunity to study for an international postgraduate degree at one of the UK’s most respected institutes in its field.

Further information about how to apply can be found here.

Data collection as part of the student-led research project on the Tropical Forestry Study Tour. This group were investigating the effects of different silvicultural treatments on forest stand structure and carbon stocks. © James Walmsley

Publication date: 19 March 2021