Foundation selects Ambassadorial Scholars from low-income countries

The Rotary Foundation has selected 27 people from low-income countries to receive Ambassadorial Scholarships for university studies in 2008-09.

The scholarships, which aim to promote international goodwill, allow recipients to study almost any field at a college or university in another country.

The 27 recipients are citizens of Ethiopia, Guatemala, India, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Macedonia, and Tanzania, among other areas. Their places of study will include Harvard and Johns Hopkins universities, both in the United States; Simon Fraser University in Canada; Uppsala University in Sweden; and Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand. They intend to take courses in fields such as law, psychology, medicine, business, and public health.

The scholars will join those from industrialized countries who also have been selected by the Foundation for 2008-09. Whereas the Ambassadorial Scholars from developed countries will be financed by the District Designated Fund, the others will be funded by the Scholarships Fund Pool for Low-Income Countries. Each year, 10 percent of Ambassadorial Scholars are from low-income countries.

Since it was created in 1947, the Ambassadorial Scholarships program has supported more than 38,000 students from about 100 countries, for a total of more than US$490 million. It provides grants to more students than any other privately funded, university-level international scholarships program in the world.