Don’t Apply for a Chevening Scholarship…

20 years ago I saw an advert in a UK national newspaper which was headlined “Don’t apply to be a diplomat…” I was intrigued. Why would the Foreign and Commonwealth office be advertising for people not to apply for one of their jobs?

The answer was fairly clear as I read on. It said don’t apply if you enjoy staying in your comfort zone, or if you don’t enjoy meeting new people in strange and sometimes difficult places. It said don’t fill in an application if you aren’t prepared to think and act to get things done. And definitely don’t apply if you’re not the sort to get excited by the prospect of making a difference.

Well as you’ll know if you look at the bottom of this blog, I did apply – and here I am today in the beautiful country of Macedonia (which I’m pleased to say is not a strange or difficult place – but does have its challenges).

So let me use the same technique to invite you to consider becoming a Chevening Scholar. Don’t apply if you can’t be bothered to look up the Chevening website to find out what a Chevening Scholarship is. Don’t apply if you plan on letting others lead and shape Macedonia’s future. And definitely don’t apply if you think that taking a post-graduate course at one of Britain’s great universities – paid for by the UK Government – won’t help you deliver positive change in Macedonia.

However if you think that you might be a Chevening sort of person, then you can find out more at www.chevening.org.

In the past 20 years the UK Government has paid for nearly 200 people from Macedonia to study political sciences, international studies, law, innovation and business, banking and finance, creative industries and many more. The Chevening alumni come from many walks of life in Macedonia – including leading politicians in government and opposition, senior bankers, leaders in the civil society sector, as well as prominent figures in the judiciary, art developers, artists and creators.

Each year we welcome back those who’ve studied and bid farewell to our new scholars. This year we are welcoming back three and sending off eight. Next year we might be seeing you off to university in the UK – if you weren’t put off by the headline in this blog.

I wasn’t put off 20 years ago – and it was probably the best professional decision I’ve ever made. Might today be the day you made such a decision?

Paul Edwards
Deputy Head of Mission
British Embassy – Skopje