RHODES SCHOLARSHIPS. Cecil Rhodes provided by his will for the maintenance at Oxford university of about 200 scholars for a term of three years each. The value of each scholarship is now £400 a year. Thirty-four scholars come each year from the British empire, distributed substantially as follows: One scholar is elected annually from each province or State of Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa; from four specified schools in the Cape Province of South Africa and from the colonies of Newfoundland, Jamaica and Bermuda. Rhodesia elects three scholars each year, and Malta one every third year. Thirty-two scholars are elected annually from among the 4S States of the United States. Five annual scholarships were allotted to Germany, but these were annulled by Parliament in 1916.
In his will Rhodes emphasized the value of such scholarships: (I) In giving "young colonists" breadth of view, instruction in life and manners, and in instilling into their minds the advantages of a united empire; (2) in creating in American students an attachment to the country from which they originally sprang without weakening their sympathy for their own, and so fostering the cause of the union of English-speaking people.
Rhodes believed that his objects would be best attained by bringing together for education at Oxford young men selected for four groups of qualities which he defined as follows: literary and scholastic ability and attainments ; qualities of manhood, truth, courage, devotion to duty, sympathy for and protection of the weak, kindliness, unselfishness and fellowship ; exhibition during school days of moral force of character and of instincts to lead and to take an interest in his school-mates; fondness for sports.