Prince of Wales Launches Climate Action Scholarships for Small Island Nation Students
(Clarence House Press Release) HRH The Prince of Wales, with the University of Cambridge, to launch Climate Action Scholarships for students from small island nations.
The new scholarships – announced today by the Universities of Cambridge, Toronto, Melbourne, McMaster and Montreal will support students from small island nations to address climate change.
The Climate Action Scholarships are being launched to coincide with Commonwealth Day and recognise the disproportionate effects of climate change on Small Island Developing States (SIDS), many of which are part of the Commonwealth.
The scholarships are spearheaded by The Prince of Wales and will support students on courses that engage with sustainability, helping them develop their existing skills and knowledge to address the effects of climate change in the countries they come from.
The scholarships are provided by the University of Toronto, the University of Melbourne, McMaster University and the University of Montreal, which along with the University of Cambridge have come together to address this critical issue.
The Climate Action Scholarships follow The Prince’s support of students from St Vincent and the Grenadines after the Volcano eruption on St Vincent in April 2021. As a result of discussions between The Prince of Wales and Mr Ralph Gonsalves, Prime Minister of St Vincent and the Grenadines, the University of Wales Trinity Saint David (UWTSD) welcomed 37 students from the Caribbean Islands of St Vincent and the Grenadines.
“St Vincent and the Grenadines is extremely grateful for the splendid initiative of the Prince of Wales to secure 55 scholarships (40 undergraduate and 15 post-graduate) through the University of Wales Trinity St. David. The Prince of Wales acted swiftly on this package of scholarships, valued at £4.5 million, in the aftermath of the volcanic eruptions on St Vincent in April 2021. Thanks again to Prince Charles for his love and concern for our people, especially the young”. – Dr The Hon. Ralph E. Gonsalves Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines
Notes to Editors:
· The Cambridge Trust was established in the 1980s with the specific objective of providing scholarships to students from the Commonwealth and wider world who lacked the means to fund their studies at the University of Cambridge. The Prince of Wales, himself a Cambridge alumnus having graduated from Trinity College in 1970, has been involved in the work of the Trust for many years, serving as Patron since 2010.
· In Cambridge the programme of awards will be offered by the Cambridge Trust, which will be awarding ten fully-funded ‘HRH The Prince of Wales Commonwealth Scholarships’ over the next two years, with the first recipients expected to take up their places at the University of Cambridge in October 2022.
· Back in 2018, in celebration of the 70th anniversary of the modern Commonwealth and to mark The Prince of Wales’s 70th birthday, the Cambridge Trust launched a programme of His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales Scholarships. The scholarships funded University of Cambridge postgraduate applicants from Commonwealth nations whose studies focused on practical themes affecting the future of those nations, such as climate change, the blue economy and sustainability. As part of the three-year programme, 20 fully-funded scholarships were awarded to applicants from across the Commonwealth, for both Masters and PhD studies.
· The Prince of Wales has been an active supporter of the Commonwealth for over 50 years. Together with The Duchess of Cornwall, His Royal Highness shows his support through official visits, military links, charitable activities and other special events such as the opening of the Commonwealth Games in 2010 in New Delhi, India; in 2014 Glasgow, Scotland and in 2018 on the Gold Coast, Australia.
· The Prince has attended the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) on five previous occasions – Edinburgh in 1997, Uganda in 2007, Sri Lanka in 2013 (where The Prince represented Her Majesty The Queen), Malta in 2015 and in the U.K. in 2018. During the 2018 CHOGM in the U.K., Commonwealth leaders formally announced that The Prince of Wales would succeed The Queen as Head of the Commonwealth.
· Since 1969, The Prince has visited 46 Commonwealth countries, many of them on several occasions. The Duchess of Cornwall has accompanied The Prince on many of his visits to Commonwealth countries and Her Royal Highness has visited 24 Commonwealth countries.
· The students from St Vincent and the Grenadines arrived in Wales at the end of January to study a range of programmes identified by their government as being beneficial to the future development of their country. These include History, International Development and Global Politics as well as Early Childhood Education, Quantity Surveying and Civil Engineering. In addition, 15 students are studying online from St Vincent and the Grenadines.
· Case studies of students are available from the Clarence House Communications Team.
Source: CARICOM TODAY