The Commonwealth Scholarship and Fellowship Plan (CSFP) is an international programme under which Commonwealth governments offer scholarships and fellowships to citizens of other Commonwealth countries.
The plan was originally proposed by Canadian statesman Sidney Earle Smith in a speech in Montreal on 1 September 1958 and was established in 1959, at the first Conference of Commonwealth Education Ministers (CCEM) held in Oxford, Great Britain. Since then, over 25,000 individuals have held awards, hosted by over twenty countries. The CSFP is one of the primary mechanisms of pan-Commonwealth exchange.
There is no central body which manages the CSFP. Instead, participation is based on a series of bi-lateral arrangements between home and host countries. The participation of each country is organised by a national nominating agency, which is responsible for advertising awards applicable to their own country and making nominations to host countries.
In the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, which is the biggest contributor to the Plan, this process is managed by the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission in Britain, a non-departmental public body, and funded by the Department for International Development. Since 2008, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office no longer contributes financially to the plan and the number and type of scholarships available for students from more developed Commonwealth countries (Australia, The Bahamas, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Cyprus, Malta, New Zealand, and Singapore) to study in Britain has been reduced.[1]. Other countries, such as Australia, no longer offer scholarships as part of the CSFP.
Kenny Anthony, Prime Minister of St. LuciaGeorge Brandis QC, 36th Attorney-General of AustraliaRoss Cranston, Member of Parliament for Dudley North, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandBill English, Prime Minister of New ZealandJohn Alexander Forrest, Member for Mallee, AustraliaLeslie Gunawardana, Former Minister of Science, Sri LankaHala Hameed, Maldivian Minister of StateJuma Athuman Kapuya, Minister of Labour, Employment and Youth DevelopmentKalombo Mwansa, Home Affairs Minister of ZambiaSatendra Nandan, Minister of Health and Social Welfare, FijiRolph Payet, Seychellois Cabinet MinisterKamla Persad-Bissessar, Prime Minister of Trinidad and TobagoCarlos Simons, Member, Interim Advisory Council, Turks and Caicos IslandsAbdullah Tarmugi, Singaporean politician and MPMichael Tate, Minister for Justice, AustraliaPatrick Keane, Judge of the High Court of AustraliaRoss Cranston, Former Solicitor General of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandGeorge W. Kanyeihamba, Judge of the Supreme Court of UgandaProfessor Vijender Kumar, Professor of Family Law, NALSAR University of LawLord Thomas of Cwmgiedd, Lord Chief Justice of England and WalesMichael Omolewa, Permanent Delegate and Ambassador to UNESCO, NigeriaDame Bridget Ogilvie, DiplomatCarolyn McMaster, Canadian Deputy High Commissioner to New ZealandStephen Jolly, Director of Defence Communications, UK Ministry of DefenceAsheesh Advani, President and CEO, JA WorldwideMark Carney, Governor of the Bank of CanadaMichael Dix, President and Founder, Affordable Holdings & Associates, CanadaGunapala Amarasinghe, Professor of Ayurvedic Pediatrics, Institute of Indigenous Medicine, University of ColomboAnisuzzaman, Emeritus Professor of Bengali, University of DhakaRichard Alexander Arnold, Professor of English, Alfaisal University in RiyadhManoj Kumar Arora, Professor of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology RoorkeeSaleem Badaat, Vice Chancellor, Rhodes University, South AfricaHeather Bell, Director of International Strategy at the University of Oxford and an Official Fellow of Merton College, OxfordRobert M. Carter, Director of Australia's Secretariat for the Ocean Drilling ProgramBasudeb Chatterjee, Chairman, Indian Council of Historical Research, New DelhiWarrick Couch, astronomer, Director of the Australian Astronomical Observatory and President of the Australian Institute of Physics.Professor Alan Robertson Gemmell Professor of Biology at Keele University (1950-1977)Germaine Greer, Australian feminist author; former Professor of English Literature and Comparative Studies at the University of WarwickCharles Jago, President of the University of Northern British ColumbiaAbu Hena Mustafa Kamal, poet, song writer & professor at University of DhakaWill Kymlicka, Canada Research Chair in Political Philosophy, Queen's University at KingstonMitchell McInnes, Professor of Law, University of AlbertaBridget Ogilvie, Director of the Wellcome TrustPratapaditya Pal, Curator-Emeritus and formerly, Curator, Los Angeles County Museum of ArtChittaranjan Panda, Former Curator and Secretary, Victoria Memorial Hall, CalcuttaPeng Tsu Ann, Professor of Mathematics, National University of SingaporeRaja Ramanna, Chairman, Atomic Energy Commission of IndiaGhulam Mohammed Sheikh, Professor of Art, Baroda UniversityLalji Singh, Director, Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, HyderabadCham Tao Soon, Founding President, Nanyang Technological University, SingaporeSheung-Wai Tam, President Emeritus of The Open University of Hong KongStephen Toope, President and Vice-Chancellor of the University of British ColumbiaSunil Kumar Verma, Principal Scientist, Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, IndiaJeremy Waldron, Professor of law and philosophy, New York University School of LawAlexandra Walsham, Professor of Modern History, University of CambridgeFiona Williams, Professor of Social Policy, University of LeedsEdward Greenspon, Editor-in-Chief, The Globe and Mail, CanadaCharles Krauthammer, Pulitzer Prize–winning journalistChandan Mitra, Editor and Managing Director of The Pioneer, New DelhiWalter Learning, Founder of Theatre New BrunswickShyamaprasad, Leading Indian (Malayalam) film Director, President, Amrita TelevisionProf. Dr Sruti Bandopadhay, leading Manipuri Dance Artist, Professor of Dance, Rabindra Bharati University, Kolkata, India