About the Scholarship

Are you a talented Australian,  passionate about this country and with the desire  to contribute to its  future? Then you should apply for The Cranfield Australian Alumni Scholarship, which will give you the opportunity to develop world-class leadership and business skills by undertaking the intensive one-year MBA programme at Cranfield School of Management.

This Scholarship is the pre-eminent opportunity for outstanding Australians with diverse work, educational and life experiences, who possess the entrepreneurial and business leadership talents to benefit from the learning opportunity and who will then contribute to Australia through their increased knowledge and skills.

We are driven by an ethos of community, contribution and “pay it forward”. We as alumni have benefited from our Cranfield experience and are now helping the next generation of talented Australians, who in their turn, will help those who follow.

Funded jointly by Cranfield Alumni in Australia and the Cranfield School of Management, UK, the scholarship was established in 2005 to give talented Australians the opportunity to accelerate their professional, personal and leadership development. Cranfield’s MBA programme was rated in the top three globally by the Wall Street Journal in its survey of the intensive one-year MBA programmes—“Fast Path to the Fast Track”.

How this Scholarship is distinctive

The Cranfield Australian Alumni Scholarship is distinctly different from other notable scholarships available to Australians for overseas study, for example, the Rhodes, Menzies, Fulbright and Sir John Monash scholarships. All of these excellent scholarships have a strong research and academic focus emphasis and eligibility criteria and are oriented to post-graduate level research candidates.

By contrast, the Alumni’s aim for CAASF is not for theoretical or research-based study—rather we see our scholarship as complementing the important endeavours of those other scholarships.

Our aim for scholars is the acquisition and then practical application of knowledge as management and leadership and so our emphasis is to identify and develop candidates with business management, leadership or entrepreneurial talent. Thus the scholarship is open to applicants who may not have completed an undergraduate degree, but have demonstrated through exceptional work track record that they have the intelligence, talent and persistence to do well.

Perhaps one day we will see Cranfield Scholars commercialising research discoveries made by Monash and Menzies scholars!

Who is eligible to apply

Eligibility for the CAA scholarship has been deliberately defined in simple terms. Applicants must:

1. Be Australian citizens residing in the country during the selection process,
2. Have at least 3-4 years of practical, “real-life” work and life experience with a track record of success and whilst there  are no fixed upper or lower limits for age, given the experience criteria, applicants will most likely be around 28 to 34 years of age,
3. Have the talent and passion to contribute to Australia’s future.
4. Be accepted on the Cranfield MBA programme, through the normal Cranfield application process. Cranfield’s entry requirements are:

a. Minimum GMAT score of 600; OR successful completion of the Cranfield Admission test (CAT), and
b. Successful work experience of over three years

Please note:

If you do not fulfil the eligibility criteria eg you are Permanent Resident but not a citizen , you should still register with us, as there may be other scholarships (eg FeeShare) that we can advise you of.

Because we do face-to-face interviews, you need to be based here in Australia during the selection process to be considered for the CAASF scholarship. If you are an Australian travelling/working overseas, we cannot interview you, but again, you should register for the same reason as above.

See more information under FAQs.

What the Scholarship covers

The scholarship covers

• tuition fees for the full time MBA programme, presently (2012) £33,000, and
• a grant of A$20,000 towards accommodation, living and travel expenses.

Depending on prevailing exchange rates, the total value of the scholarship (2012) is around $AUD80,000,  making it the most valuable in Australia for a single year of study.

 

“Paying it forward”

We the alumni have benefited from our Cranfield experience and are now helping the next generation of talented Australians. We expect these will in their turn help others to follow in their footsteps.

Those who benefit from the scholarship  are asked to “pay it forward” in any way that best works for them, that is by contributing  time,  effort, money or resources. As a minimum, we expect scholarship winners, 2012 Scholars and Feeshare winners to:

• Promote the scholarship amongst their professional and personal networks
• Write a blog during their time at Cranfield
• Do a short video during their year which we normally show at the Award Dinner in May and which we then load onto our web site.
• Act as a public face for CAASF whilst at Cranfield and at any opportunity thereafter
• And make a “micro-donation” each week to the scholarship fund in each week of their working life, appriximately equivalent to value of a cup of coffee.

In this way, we ensure that the cycle repeats and the Scholarship lives on in a sustainable way.

Our Aims for the Scholarship

The Cranfield alumni in Australia created the scholarship as a means of contributing to the vibrancy of the Alumni community here and also as our contribution to this country. We also have other aims that we wish to achieve through the scholarship:

For the applicants

• Applicants experience a professional and rigorous selection process which will be a valuable learning experience in itself.
• The winner has the age, talent and work experience to capitalise on the unique opportunity. This scholarship demonstrably enhances the winner’s personal and professional abilities and career and is thus seen as a highly valuable prize.
• Even if the applicants decide not to go to Cranfield to study for an MBA, the contact with alumni and the discussion process serves to trigger applicants to consider the value of management study in developing themselves professionally and personally and that this encourages them into further management education locally.
• Exposure to an international learning environment and fellow students feeds back into the practice of management in Australia.

For the Alumni

• The annual process of running the scholarship provides a vehicle for all Australian alumni to work together on a worthwhile project of great value to Australia.
• The annual award event (to be held on alternate years in Melbourne and Sydney) provides an excellent opportunity for all the alumni to get together once each year.
• The personal rewards gained by talent spotting potential applicants for the scholarship, inviting them to alumni functions and encouraging them to apply for Cranfield scholarship creates a focus which enlivens the local alumni groups.
• Increased MBA enrolments from Australia feed back into increased growth and energy in the local Cranfield alumni groups.
• The publicity associated with the scholarship and its high-profile sponsors and alumni, raises the recognition of Cranfield School of Management in Australia and the unique value of the Cranfield MBA

For Cranfield School of Management

• The increased profile for Cranfield increases the quality and number of MBA applicants from Australia. This feeds a virtuous cycle; excellence and diversity in the student body leads to increased richness and quality of learning, which in turn feeds the success of the Graduates and the School as an academic research and teaching institution.

For Australia

This scholarship, through the diversity of its reach and the skills and knowledge in leadership and management that it will develop in the recipients, has the capability to make a significant impact to Australia.
As the scholarship aims to improve the quality of leadership and management skills in all sectors of business and the community, we actively seek diversity in age, education and professional background in the registrants. The scholarship will be particularly attractive to highly skilled specialists who wish to broaden and strengthen their management experience.

In the longer term, Australians with internationally ranked skills in leadership and management will contribute both to the economic welfare of the nation as well as to the values that make Australia unique.