Marshall Scholarship

, for whom the scholarships are named Founding and motivation Plans to establish Marshall Scholarships as a living memorial to United States secretary of state George C. Marshall was announced by British Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden on 31 July 1952, and were enacted by the Parliament of the United Kingdom with the Marshall Aid Commemoration Act 1953. While the authors of the proposal initially considered partnering with the Rhodes Scholarship and even considered using the same selection committees, this idea was eventually disregarded because its proponents strongly believed the scholarships should be available to women, and to married men under the age of 28; at the time, the Rhodes Scholarship was limited to single men under the age of 25. The creation of a separate scholarship was a cause of great concern to Lord Godfrey Elton, the head of the Rhodes Trust at the time, who worried that the ability to study at other universities would draw potential applicants. He urged the Foreign Office to create a "reverse exchange" for British students in the United States instead. The Rhodes Scholarship became open to women beginning in 1977 following the passage of the British Sex Discrimination Act in 1975. As part of the celebrations for the 50th Anniversary of the Marshall Scholarships in 2003, a Marshall Medal was awarded to distinguished Americans in recognition of their contributions to UK-US relations, including Stephen Breyer (1959 Marshall Scholar), Ray Dolby (1957 Marshall Scholar), Thomas L. Friedman (1975 Marshall Scholar) and Nannerl Keohane (1961 Marshall Scholar). In the early years of the Marshall Scholarship, it was common for new scholars to travel together to the UK on an ocean liner, but now scholars are usually flown together to London from Washington, D.C. following a welcome program at the White House with top United Kingdom and United States government and diplomatic officials. Evolution In 1954, the first year Marshall Scholarships were awarded, 700 students applied, 74 were interviewed, and 12 were ultimately selected (eight men and four women). Two came from Stanford, and the rest from Harvard, Princeton, Dartmouth, Bowdoin, Bryn Mawr, Kentucky, Oberlin, Utah, Virginia and Wisconsin. In 1956, Claremont McKenna student Hugh Gallagher became the first wheelchair user to be selected as a Marshall Scholar, which he used to study at Oxford. He went on to draft the Architectural Barriers Act of 1968, which required that buildings built with federal funds be made accessible to all and was enacted by President Lyndon B. Johnson. This was a precursor to the Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990. "Hugh's most outstanding contribution to the quality of life of people with disabilities was to successfully place disability rights on Congress' agenda for the first time," former Senate majority leader Bob Dole wrote for an event honoring Gallagher in 1995. In 1963, Boston University graduate student John Willis became the first African American to be selected for a Marshall Scholarship, which he used to study at the School of Oriental and African Studies. Willis became a professor emeritus of Near Eastern studies at Princeton University. The number of scholars increased to thirty in 1973, forty in 1991, and 44 between 2004 and 2007. In 2010, the commission decided to offer a limited number of one-year awards. In 2016, the Foreign Office announced that forty scholars had been selected, a 25 percent increase over the originally planned 32, with Foreign Office Minister Alok Sharma calling it a demonstration of how "resolute Britain is in its commitment to the special relationship." On 7 June 2023, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, from his office at 10 Downing Street, announced an expansion to the funding allotted for Marshall Scholarships, writing in a press release that "the number of Marshall scholarships will increase by 25%, to 50 places a year." Accordingly, 51 students were selected as 2024 Marshall Scholars, the largest cohort in the scholarship's 70-year history. However, only 36 students were selected the next year as 2025 Marshall Scholars. == Objectives ==

In a letter to the first class of Marshall Scholars, George Marshall echoed his own words in initially presenting his ideas for European recovery by saying, "A close accord between our two countries is essential to the good of mankind in this turbulent world of today, and that is not possible without an intimate understanding of each other. These scholarships point the way to the continuation and growth of the understanding which found its necessity in the terrible struggle of the war years." == Selection ==

Selection criteria The first proposed 1953 arrangement of the Marshall Scholarship, a 10-page document presented by the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs to Parliament by Command of Her Majesty, instructed selectors to "look for distinction of intellect and character as evidenced both by their scholastic attainment and by other activities and achievements."Between 900 and 1000 students are typically endorsed to apply for the Marshall Scholarship annually. In 2015 and 2016, 3.2 and 3.5 percent of university-endorsed applicants to the Marshall Scholarship were elected. In 2020, 1,000 students were endorsed, 160 interviewed, and 46 selected. Winners from Harvard University have had average GPA of 3.92, and Stanford University recommends that applicants have a GPA of 3.8 or above. Between 1954 and 2022, 256 of 2,179 scholars received their undergraduate degrees from Harvard University (12 percent), 138 from Princeton University, 125 from Yale University, 94 from Stanford University, and 83 from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Among public universities, the top producers are the United States Military Academy, with 47 scholars, followed by the United States Naval Academy (34 scholars) and the University of California, Berkeley (33 scholars). The following table includes those institutions that have produced 30 or more scholars since 1954. Scholarship terms Marshall Scholars may study any full-time postgraduate course offered by a UK university excluding pre-professional programs, whether a taught master's program, a research degree, or a PhD. The scholarship's basic tenure is two years. University and college fees are paid by the British government. In addition, scholars receive a quarterly maintenance stipend to cover accommodation and living expenses. == Academic destinations ==

Nine institutions are traditionally the main destinations of selected Marshall Scholars: University of Oxford, University of Cambridge, London School of Economics, University College London, University of Edinburgh, King's College London and Imperial College London. ==Comparison to other post-graduate scholarships==

In structure and selection criteria, the Scholarship is most similar to the American Rhodes Scholarship and the Fulbright Program. Like the Fulbright available for study in the United Kingdom, Marshall Scholars can study at any university in the UK. However, under the Fulbright, applicants compete in separate pools for 43 specified universities of varying selectivity, except for two awards tenable at any university. The Marshall Scholarship is more flexible than the Rhodes Scholarship, in that Marshall Scholars can study at any British university, and can also attend a different university each year during a Scholar's tenure. The Gates Cambridge Scholarship is slightly more selective with 1.3% of applicants receiving an award. Also, because the selection processes of the scholarships discussed above differ, the likelihood that an applicant will be granted a final round interview is different for each scholarship. In 2014, 15.9 percent of university-endorsed applicants for the Marshall Scholarship received a finalist interview, compared to 24 percent of Rhodes applicants and 5.4 percent of Mitchell applicants. Walter Isaacson, describing Rhodes Scholars as "fairly intelligent, well-rounded, honest people who could be counted on to be upstanding citizens," has said that "the real geniuses...were the Marshall Scholars," perhaps because of the expectation that Rhodes Scholars be "all-rounders." In practice, the Marshall and Rhodes have engaged an "informal rivalry," but in career trajectory after the completion of their fellowships, "the line between [the fellowships] is not so evident," with scholars pursuing similar fields with similar success. In general, a higher percentage of Marshall Scholars "go on to careers in academia and research, whereas Rhodes Scholars are more evenly scattered through the full range of professional occupations." ==Association of Marshall Scholars==

The Association of Marshall Scholars (AMS) was formed in 1988 as a charitable organization. The organization has been led by several notable board and advisory members, including Kathleen Sullivan, Reid Hoffman, Nannerl Keohane, Peter Orszag, Harold Koh, Roger Tsien and Daniel Yergin. The Association of Marshall Scholars releases an annual public opinion poll in partnership with Emerson College in Boston, Massachusetts. The poll measures the American public's perceptions of the United Kingdom, highlighting major current issues (e.g. Brexit). The Marshall Forum Every year, the Association of Marshall Scholars hosts the Marshall Forum, a high-profile dialogue engaging top American and British leaders about key transatlantic issues, in a different city. During Forums that take place during anniversaries of the Scholarship or Marshall Plan, the Marshall Medal is typically awarded to distinguished individuals who have advanced British-American understanding. These have included Lisa Cook (1986 Marshall Scholar), Madeleine Albright, and Anne Applebaum (1986 Marshall Scholar). In 2017 the Association of Marshall Scholars, in partnership with the German Marshall Fund and the British Embassy, Washington, hosted the Harvard Marshall Forum at Harvard University to mark the 70th anniversary of the Marshall Plan and focused on its legacy and impact today. The event featured 30 speakers including Madeleine Albright as well as Supreme Court Justices Stephen Breyer and Neil Gorsuch, both Marshall Scholars. In 2018, the AMS partnered with the British Consulate General in San Francisco and the Bechtel International Center at Stanford University to host a Marshall Forum on Innovation. The Forum focused on the pipeline of scientific invention in fields such as biomedicine and genetics that are of particular interest to the United States and the United Kingdom. Distinguished speakers included Reid Hoffman, a Marshall Scholar, and David Reitze, Director of LIGO Laboratory. The forum highlighted societal challenges and opportunities raised by explosive innovations in these fields as they interact with advances in machine learning, artificial intelligence, and data science. In 2019, the AMS hosted the Marshall Forum with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, focusing on peace and prosperity. The Forum featured 17 speakers including the Governor of the Bank of England Mark Carney, the Director of U.S. National Security Agency General Paul Nakasone, former U.S. ambassadors Michael Froman, Carla Hills, and William J. Burns, and former British Ambassador to the United States Kim Darroch. == Notable Marshall Scholars ==