Kennedy Scholarship


Kennedy Scholarships provide full funding for up to ten British post-graduate students to study at either Harvard University or the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Susan Hockfield, the sixteenth president of MIT, described the scholarship program as a way to "offer exceptional students unique opportunities to broaden their intellectual and personal horizons, in ways that are more important than ever in an era defined by global interaction.". In 2007, 163 applications were received, of which 10 were ultimately selected, for an acceptance rate of 6.1%.

Creation

Following the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in 1963, Sir Alec Douglas-Home, the prime minister of the United Kingdom, set about creating a national British memorial in his memory. He consulted with Harold Wilson, Sir David Ormsby-Gore, Dean Rusk and the Kennedy family. It was agreed that Douglas-Home would establish a committee, chaired by Lord Franks, to make recommendations on the form of the memorial to President Kennedy.
Following wide consultation, Franks wrote to the Prime Minister to recommend that the memorial should be in two parts: a living memorial, in the form of a scholarship to attend either Harvard or MIT, and a permanent memorial site in Runnymede, England, the site of the Magna Carta. This location was chosen because it was regarded as the birthplace of the freedoms which President Kennedy promised to uphold. The John F. Kennedy Memorial Act 1964 was passed into legislation to enact and manage the two memorials.

Kennedy family

The Kennedy family have been strong supporters of the British Kennedy memorial since its creation. Prior to the United States' entry into the Second World War, Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. served as the United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom. In 1965, Jacqueline Kennedy and Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom unveiled the memorial at Runnymede. It consists of a Portland stone memorial tablet within natural woodland and meadow, where the visitor is invited on a journey, resembling that in Pilgrim's Progress; the journey through what is seen is mirrored by a deeper one into the unseen landscape of life, death and spirit. The stone is inscribed with the famous quote from Kennedy's Inaugural Address given on 20 January 1961:
Senator Edward Kennedy described the program as the most ambitious of all the memorials to his brother, and he was a passionate supporter of the Kennedy Scholarships until his death in August 2009.

Former trustees

Since 1964, all UK Kennedy Memorial Trust trustees have been appointed by the prime minister of the United Kingdom. Various prominent individuals have previously served as trustees. These include:
The current trustees are:
  • Sir Richard Moore KCMG – former Kennedy Scholar, former chief of the Secret Intelligence Service.
  • United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom – .
  • – former Kennedy Scholar, Barrister.
  • Professor Kirstie Blair – former Kennedy Scholar, Deputy Principal University of Stirling
  • Matt Clifford CBE – former Kennedy Scholar, co-founder and CEO of Entrepreneur First
  • – former Kennedy Scholar, chief investment officer of University of Cambridge Endowment Fund
  • Professor Gareth H. McKinley – former Kennedy Scholar, Professor of Teaching Innovation in the School of Engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
  • Professor Rana Mitter – former Kennedy Scholar, ST Lee Chair in US-Asia Relations at the Harvard Kennedy School, Harvard University
  • – former Kennedy Scholar, non-executive director of Pershing Square Holdings and Chair of Bremont Watches.
  • Mary Ann Sieghart – journalist and author
  • Moira Wallace OBE – former Kennedy Scholar, former civil servant and provost of Oriel College, University of Oxford.

    Patrons

  • The lord mayor of London
  • The governor of the Bank of England

    Selection

Nearly 600 individuals have been awarded a Kennedy Scholarship. Selection follows a national competition which begins each autumn. A long-list and short-list are chosen and then around twenty-five individuals are invited to London for interview by the trustees.
When evaluating applications and interviewing candidates, the trustees take into consideration candidates':
  • intellectual attainment
  • readiness and ability to express themselves
  • the suitability of their proposed course of study at Harvard or MIT.
They may also look for: originality of mind, commitment to public service, potential to make a mark in public life and the ability to overcome adversity
The selection aims, criteria and standards are comparable to the Rhodes Scholarship and Marshall Scholarship programs.

Notable Kennedy scholars

Prominent former scholars include:

Politics, government and civil service

Image:Miliband Clinton.jpg|thumb|right| The Right Honourable David Miliband, the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, one of four Kennedy Scholars in the Cabinet of Gordon Brown.