Comprehensive funding paired with a leadership programme
The Mandela Rhodes Scholarship pairs comprehensive funding, tuition, accommodation, meals, a personal allowance, and travel to and from South Africa, with a leadership development programme built around reconciliation, education, entrepreneurship and leadership. It funds a one-year Honours degree or a two-year Master’s, in any field, at a recognised South African university.
Mark your calendar rather than expecting to apply today
Applications for the Class of 2028 open 9 March 2027 and close 14 April 2027 at 23:59 South African time, with no exceptions for late or incomplete submissions. As of this check, the prior round has already closed and the next window has not yet opened, so mark your calendar rather than expecting to apply today.
The scholarship doesn’t get you into a university
One step catches people out: the scholarship does not get you into a university. You apply for admission separately, and taking up the award is conditional on securing a place; if you’re not accepted in time, the scholarship cannot be deferred to the following year. If you’re applying from outside South Africa, budget extra time for SAQA verification of your existing qualifications, which the Foundation says can take four to eight weeks and can delay both your university acceptance and your study visa. The award itself does not cover your visa costs or SAQA fees, and you’re responsible for handling your own visa application.
Who can apply
Eligibility is open to citizens of any African country, aged 19 to 29 in the year you apply, with an undergraduate degree above 70% or upper-second-class Honours completed by 1 January 2028.
A deliberate act of reconciliation, not an odd pairing of names
The name itself carries real history. The Foundation was established in 2003 by Nelson Mandela himself, in partnership with the Rhodes Trust, the same trust behind the Rhodes Scholarship at Oxford, and is one of Mandela’s three official legacy organisations. Mandela described forming the partnership as a deliberate act of reconciliation and reparation, a way to return some of Cecil John Rhodes’s wealth to its origins in Africa and, in his own words, “close the circle of history” by using that wealth to address the inequalities left by colonialism and apartheid. That founding intent is why the scholarship funds African students specifically to study in Africa, rather than sending them abroad the way the original Rhodes Scholarship does.