commonwealth schorlaship interview is on 3-6th dec in abuja,pls does anyone know what the interview looks like and how many people are normally select at the end? visit www.csfp-online.org to apply.or check daily trust of 19th NOv for details

Is it still open for application? Wen did u apply for this?

its not late it just came out yesterday in the national dalies, any infor on what the interview looks like, just look for daily trust or this day of yesterday

Depending on your chosen course of study, you get to attend an interview with a panel consisting of University professors (2 - 3) with background in the relevant field(s). Usually, you are asked questions pertaining to your course of study, your proposed research area, possibly some background stuffs/ fundamentals learnt during your undergrad, applicability and relevance of your course to Nigeria, and general knowledge/ current affairs questions.

In terms of total number of awards, applicants to UK schools have the highest chance of getting shortlisted because the UK, by a wide margin, offers the highest number of awards every year. Usually, Nigeria is asked to nominate a specific number of candidates (can't remember the number now, but i think it's between 30 - 40) for the UK general scholarship. For the UK awards, the UK Commonwealth Scholarship Commission (CSC) then pools candidates from specific regions of the world and rank candidates - e.g. Nigerian applicants are placed in an African pool. Unfortunately, the success rate of Nigerian applicants at this stage is not particularly impressive - this, i reckon, is 'because the principle of 'federal character' is applied in drawing up the final shortlist of applicants sent to the UK CSC. There's also, unfortunately, some level of 'influence' in who gets selected too. However, some candidates have been known to be quite lucky 'because they get to impress the Profs interviewing them and they get nominated without any influence.

For any intending UK applicant, I'll advise that you go through some past annual reports available at http://www.cscuk.org.uk/ for hints on what criteria the CSC evaluation committee will be considering applications forwarded to them.

thanks cool guy for that insight, wish i have ur email so i ll communicate with u. is it compulsory one go with transcript cos the interview is in 2wks and to process 1 may take long, can 1 go with just sch cert. or statement of results?
in this year's they say trinidad and tobago does it mean candidates are to go there, pls throw more light thanks.

Hi timok4chri, you will need to get a copy of your academic transcript as it will form part of your application package.

As per Trinidad and Tobago, i think they usually offer awards yearly, d total number of award though is quite small, compared to the UK, i.e. The process is such that around this time every year, countries that are willing to offer Nigerian citizens scholarship invite nominations from the Fed. Scholarship Board. So including T and T as one of the countries this year implies they'll be offering awards.

Thanks guys. I'm really greatful for ur infos but I'm quite confused abt this Trinidad and Tobago thing. On the above site, this was stated
"The Government has indicated that it will not be offering scholarships for 2007/08. Any changes to this policy will be communicated through this website".
Pls can we be clear on these.
Thanks abunch

@ timok4chri
Please is application for United Kingdom closed? I'v spent hours looking for link to their application form. Please holla

Please I need a reply ASAP.

please,TIMOK4CHRI AND COOLGUYB I need ur phone nos. urgently, i have some things i would like to clearified,b4 i make terrible mistakes based on the form for the application, mine is 08035875026, u can equally send a text message to my number so that i can call.alternatively, my yahoo e-mail is petty2033@yahoo.co.uk, u can send an email to my box or offline message to my yahoo messenger

"Whats so common about the CommonWealth"- Mugabe

pls i would like to know how the applications are sent , email or post box and the deadline for application. Also i would be glad if u can give the details as written in the papers, i cant fiind the newspapers any where.

Guys,

About the commonwealth scholarship interviews, are we to submit our applications before the interview or just take them along with us to Abuja as said in the dailies? Will they be able to screen and interview EVERY applicant from a particular zone in one day? Some people work and traveling to Abuja and not getting interviewed on the said day will not be a very good idea. Why can't we just submit our applications and they screen people and invite others for interviews?

justnice,

They usually get to interview all applicants from the zones on the allocated day - they've been doing this for a while and they have an idea of the usual number of applicants from each zone. Your suggested approach however appears to be a more reasonable one - but then, this is Nigeria!! To answer ur other question (and to further emphasize the chaos inherent in the whole process), people have been known to go along with their application forms on the day of the interviews, and they get accepted!!

cuju,

The application for ANY country (including the UK) can't be closed yet. You can get the UK forms here http://www.cscuk.org.uk/apply/applyagency.asp

Prince Joe,

The current application cycle is for the 2008/09 academic session. SO if the FSB says, in the newspaper advert, that T and T will be offering awards, they probably will be.

petty2033,

you can post ur concerns on the application form here so that others who might fall into the trap of making the same mistakes can learn from the response(s) you get.

Please don't be offended for dragging you back. I've not gotten the paper but I want to know what actually the papers said about how to apply.
I am very interested.

Thank u for ur reply, i may not be able to get my transcript before that time(Nig. Factor) but for those interested i took time to type it out from the newspaper


2008/2009 postgraduate commonwealth schorlarship and fellowship plan interview is up from 3rd-6th december 2007.

METHOD OF APPLICATION
1. visit www.csfp-online.org
2. Go to countries offering awards.
3. Go to Trinidad and Tobago
4. Choose " click here for details of the schorlarship and application forms"
5. move to the bottom under LIST OF NOMINATION AGENCIES and click GET FORM then choose Nigeria to down load.

QUALIFICATION

the awards in all fields of study. Only candidates who graduated in 2001-2006 with first class/second division should apply. the age limit is 35 for men and 40 for women.

INTERVIEW TIME TABLE IS AS FOLLOWS
All qualified application are to come to the interview venue with 6 copies of completed forms with all relevant documents attached.

Date Day Zones.

3/12/2007 Monday All applications for PHD from all states

4/12/2007 tuesday Applicants for masters from North cent/ South south

5/12/2007 Wednesday All applicants for masters from northwest/ south east

6/12/2007 Thursday All applications for master from north east/south west.



VENUE
Arewa suites Hotel, samuel Ademola Ademulegun st. off herbert macaulay way, central Buisness District abuja (opp. federal schorlarship board, abuja.)

TIME 9.00 am daily.

Applicants should attend the interview with originals of all documents accompanying their application forms.


NB.

check Daily trust of 19 nov. 4 details.

Thanks a lot Timok4Christ for the detail.

But the issue here is how to get the transcript. Some schools like mine do not give transcript to applicants. They only post it to the school that requires.
So, I don't know if there is a special way to do it.

I'm on the verge of sending my transcript to a school in UK.

If there is a way to convince or mandate the school authority to hand me the transcript, I would like to know.

Thanks once more.

coolguyB,

You didn't say whether or not we are to submit our applications to the scholarship board before the interview day or just hold it and take it to them for the first time on the interview day

justnice,

thing is i've not seen the newspaper advert for this year and wouldn't know if there's express instructions to submit the completed application forms before a particular date. If I were to advise you, I'll say you should try and send it ahead of you - submit before the interview date, i.e.

Don't send your form in advance, they may not be able to locate it with all the mess going on. Take it with you to Abuja and get ready for both technical questions regarding your field and how you think you can contribute to the economy of Nigeria as a whole with your training.

In addition, be prepared to stand for long hours and face a crowd of people, these scholarship board people are pretty inept and waste a lot of time. Wish you all the best

CoolGuyB :
do we need to get one transcript and make photocopies to get the required six copies that they required ?

petty2033,

u can get an original, and the other photocopies u can get certified.

please i need help !!!!!!!!!!!
I learnt that NYSC discharge certificate is also a criteria.
How true is it?

dis nysc cert is a problem oooh, and am presently doing it now. pls what will happen to dose that have all the requirement but is only the nysc cert that is missing, also please will it be neccessary if i photocopy my nysc id card and show them. waiting for body reply..........lucy