Future African medical leaders will benefit from a high-calibre Lancaster University education thanks to the award of 15 new scholarships.
Lancaster University Management School (LUMS) has been awarded the maximum 15 Commonwealth Distance Learning Scholarships. These will allow students from 20 countries to study for Master's degrees with Professional and Executive Management Learning (PEML) Department in LUMS, in the academic year 2024/25.
The scholarships are offered through the Commonwealth Scholarships Commission (CSC) and are open to professionals employed in the healthcare sector in Commonwealth countries. They provide full funding for one of two Lancaster degrees: MSc Medical Leadership or the MSc Leadership Practice (Healthcare Service Improvement), to be studied part-time over two to five years.
Students from Botswana, Cameroon, Eswatini, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Tanzania, The Gambia, Togo, Uganda, and Zambia who want to develop their professional practice in leadership and management, are eligible to apply. They will study via distance learning.
"The Commonwealth Distance Learning Scholarships provide a brilliant opportunity for medical practitioners in Africa to build their leadership skills," said programme leader Dr Jo Greenwood.
"With these 15 scholarships, we will be able to use Lancaster's established expertise in shaping aspiring medical leaders who would otherwise be unable to afford to study for a Master's degree."
Previous Commonwealth Distance Learning Scholarship winners who have studied with Lancaster have gone on to great success.
For instance, neurosurgeon Dr Dickson Kwadwo Bandoh became the first Ghanaian to win the prestigious Olisa John Olutola Olatosi Prize at the Annual Scientific Conference of the West African College of Surgeons; Yahaya Yaqub, from Nigeria, presented work based on his Lancaster studies at the British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy (BSAC) conference, and was published in the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine journal; Silas Sebire and Adwoa Agyemeng-Benneh are now building on their Master's through undertaking Doctoral study in the UK; and Adekemi Adeniyan was recently shortlisted for a British Council Alumni Award in Nigeria.
The MSc in Medical Leadership is for doctors or senior clinical staff. It helps them develop their commitment to improving patient experience and service delivery; demonstrate caring, compassionate, authentic leadership; and build leadership capacity to achieve medical and organisational impact.
The MSc in Leadership Practice (Healthcare Improvement) is designed for healthcare leaders and managers looking to develop leadership and management skills. It initially includes either two healthcare related modules or the completion of a work-based project, followed by elective modules relating to leadership, management and healthcare, and a final work-based project.
Prospective scholarship students need to apply to Lancaster University before the deadline of Friday, March 22, 2024. This can be done using this application form. They must also apply to the CSC, with a deadline of Thursday, March 28, 2024. Information for this can be found on the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission website.
