A Kenyan student studying in the US, Victoria Kipng’etich, is among 62 students worldwide who have been awarded the prestigious Rhodes Scholarship. Victoria who majors in Global Affairs at Yale University is also one of the 30 recipients of the highly revered scholarship.
The Rhodes scholarship is an extremely competitive postgraduate scholarship program, with an acceptance rate of 0.7%, as per the Rhodes Trust. It provides an opportunity for young students to study at Oxford University.
Victoria, a senior at the Ivy League institutions, secured the scholarship following her profound interest in Africa’s diplomatic relations. She is passionate about the democratization of foreign policy within the Kenyan context.
Recently, she worked as an intern at the Council on Foreign Relations, where her primary responsibility involved enhancing US policymakers’ understanding of political developments in East and Central Africa.
“Relating to these interests, she has interned at the Kenya Mission to the United Nations, where she negotiated resolutions in the UN General Assembly and served as a speechwriter for the Kenyan ambassador to the UN,” read a post by Yale University after she won the scholarship.
With the scholarship, Victoria plans to conduct research on diplomatic strategies employed by Kenyan policymakers in light of emerging power competition in Africa. She aims to do this through a policy-prescriptive lens.
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Victoria will be pursuing a Masters in Global Governance and Diplomacy at Oxford. The scholarship covers expenses of 2-3 years of study at the institution.
She will join an elite list of scholars who previously received the scholarship. They include Former US President Bill Clinton, Former President of Pakistan Wasim Sajjad, former Jamaica PM Norman Manley and Prime Ministers of Australia Toby Abbot, Bob Hawke and Malcolm Turnbull.
Applicants interested in applying for the scholarship must demonstrate high literary and scholastic achievements to meet the criteria. Furthermore, they are required to show a strong commitment to making a social impact.
