ELIGIBILITY:

Nationality/citizenship: You must be a citizen of one of the following countries: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, the island of Saint Helena, Senegal, Sierra Leone, São Tomé and Principe, and Togo.

Residency: You must have been a resident in one or more of the countries listed above for at least five of the last ten years.

Age: You must meet either of the below criteria:

You must be aged 18-24 on 1st October 2025 (i.e., you must have been born after 1 October 2000 and before 2 October 2007). OR for medical, dental, pharmaceutical, law and engineering students, to allow you to complete your professional internship

You must be aged 18-25 on 1st October 2025 (i.e., you must have been born after 1 October 1999 and before 2 October 2007) OR for older candidates who completed their first undergraduate degree later than usual

You must be under the age of 27 on 1st October 2025 (i.e., have been born after 1 October 1998), AND you must also have completed your first undergraduate degree on or after 1 October 2024. They would normally consider the date on your degree certificate as your graduation date.

Academic achievement: You must have completed an undergraduate degree (usually a Bachelor’s) by the application deadline, and you must have an academic background and grade that is a First Class Honours Degree or equivalent.

In the case of Medicine, Dentistry and Pharmacy courses, the highest classification your University awards, e.g. a Distinction would be considered equivalent to a First-Class Honours Degree.

Candidates must also have achieved a distinction in at least three of the five following subject areas: Medicine & surgery, Pathology, Pharmacology, Gynaecology,

Paediatrics Candidates will have a greater chance of successful admission to Oxford if they have: An Honours degree (or have taken an Honours year) from a University outside of your country or if you have studied to Masters level within your country (with the exception of those studying in Nigeria and Ghana, and, for some countries, those studying medicine). Candidates may wish to consider applying to the Rhodes Trust’s sister Foundation, The Mandela Rhodes Foundation to pursue an Honour’s year or a Master’s degree prior to making an application for the Rhodes Scholarship.

English Language proficiency: You must meet the University of Oxford’s English language requirements. This means that unless you qualify for a test waiver, you must provide English test results with scores that meet the University’s higher-level requirement. Please check the University of Oxford’s webpage to see which tests are accepted, the scores required, and the full conditions for a language test waiver.

BENEFIT:

The Rhodes Scholarship covers University of Oxford course fees, as well as providing an annual stipend. For the 2025/26 academic year, the stipend is £19,800 per annum (£1,650 per month), from which Scholars pay all living expenses, including accommodation. Please note: this is not sufficient to cover partners or dependents.