The Two Forms Of The Bill Gates Scholarship

The Gates Millennium Scholarship and the Gates Cambridge Scholarship was funded through a $1 billion grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. These two scholarships together form the Bill Gates Scholarship. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is the world's largest foundation run with complete transparency. It was founded by Bill and Melinda Gates.

In 2006, Warren Buffet donated 10 million stocks of Berkshire Hathaway to the foundation. This helped double the size of the foundation.

The foundation focuses on healthcare, education, information technology access to all sections of society, and poverty reduction. It donates $1.5 billion annually to charitable causes.

The Gates Millennium Scholarship is awarded to those minority students who have an outstanding academic record besides evidence of acute financial need. The scholarship amount awarded varies from candidate to candidate. It depends on the specific annual needs of the student in respect of tuition, books, living expenses, and fees, besides any extra financial assistance needed.

Undergraduate scholars may choose any specialization of discipline. It is upto graduate scholars to request additional fiscal assistance in case they pursue a course in certain well-defined fields. These fields include education, computer science, mathematics, library science, public health, or science.

The Gates Cambridge Scholarship is awarded to about 100 non-UK students annually to enable them to fund their postgraduate education at Cambridge. Out of these 100 students about 40 per cent have to be from the US. The scholarship is administered by the Gates Cambridge Trust. It was set up in the year 2000 through a $210 million grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Each scholarship covers the expenses of the full course at Cambridge. It also covers the student's to and fro airfare expenses between the country of origin and the University. It also covers the maintenance expenses and a small discretionary allowance.

The basic eligibility criteria for this scholarship include the following. The student must be a graduate. The student must have gained admission to Cambridge through its standard procedures. In case the student is a non-native English speaking person, he/she must prove proficiency in English.

The award of the scholarship us made based on a student's intellectual proficiency, his/her leadership capacity, and a demonstrated ability to use his/her knowledge in the well-being of society.

In 2002, the Gates Scholars elected the Gates Scholars Council. It was formed to create a spirit of scholarly camaraderie among the scholars in Cambridge. In 2005, the Gates Scholars Alumni Association was formed at Cambridge.

The Gates Cambridge Scholarship has been awarded to 621 scholars from 78 countries. Out of these 265 are from the US.

Hope the two different forms of the Bill Gates Scholarship will pave the way for financially constrained meritorious students to show their mettle and lead the world forwards.