[2][3][4][5] Its founder, Cecil John Rhodes, wanted to promote unity among English-speaking nations and instill a sense of civic-minded leadership and moral fortitude in future leaders, irrespective of their chosen career paths.

[6] The scholarship committee selects candidates based on a combination of literary and academic achievements, athletic involvement, character traits like truth and courage, and leadership potential, originally assessed on a 200-point scale.

[7] Scholars can study full-time postgraduate courses at Oxford for one to three years, receiving financial support for tuition and living expenses, along with access to Rhodes House facilities.

Initially, the scholarship was limited to male students with Commonwealth of Nations, Germany, and the United States, a restriction that only changed in 1977 following the passage of the Sex Discrimination Act.

Protests for the inclusion of non-white scholars began in the 1970s, but it wasn't until 1991 that Black South Africans were awarded the scholarship due to the political changes in the country.

[citation needed] Rhodes Scholars have pursued diverse careers across various fields, including education, law, business, and medicine, often achieving respectable positions.

"[6] Rhodes also bequeathed scholarships to German students in the hope that, "a good understanding between England, Germany and the United States of America will secure the peace of the world."

[citation needed] The scholarships are based on Rhodes's final will and testament, which states that "no student shall be qualified or disqualified for election…on account of his race or religious opinions".

[30] A change occurred in 1929, when an Act of Parliament established a fund separate from the original proceeds of Rhodes's will and made it possible to expand the number of scholarships.

[32][33] Although all scholars become affiliated with a residential college while at Oxford, they also enjoy access to the publicly-accessible Rhodes House, an early 20th-century mansion with numerous public rooms, gardens, a library, study areas, and other facilities.

In 1916, however, the trustees introduced a bill into the House of Commons that, catering to popular British sentiment during the War, "revoked and annulled" the scholarships for Germans.

Unlike the regular scholarship, a Visiting Fellow was expected to have a doctorate or comparable degree, and to use the two-year funded study to engage in independent research.

Before Parliament passed the 1975 Act, some universities protested against the exclusion of women by nominating female candidates, who were later disqualified at the state level of the American competition.

[50] In 2007, the Association of American Rhodes Scholars published a retrospective on the first 30 years of female recipients, many of whom individually recounted personal experiences as well as professional accomplishments.

For example, in 1966, regional committees in interviews asked a white American candidate to assure them he would not publicly belittle the scholarship after he referred to its founding on "blood money".

[54]: 238  In 2015, a South African Rhodes Scholar, Ntokozo Qwabe, began a campaign to address Rhodes's controversial historical and political legacy, with a focus on Qwabe's own views which included such statements as "dismantling the open glorification of colonial genocide in educational and other public spaces – which makes it easy for British people to believe that these genocides were 'not that bad' – and props up the continuing structural legacies of British colonialism, neocolonialism, and ongoing imperialism".

[57] While the college agreed to review the placement of the statue, the Chancellor of the university, Lord Patten, was critical of the accuracy of Qwabe's statements and warned against "pandering to contemporary views.

[59] While the group does not have a position on the removal of the statue, its co-founder has called for the scholarship to be renamed as it is "the ultimate form of veneration and colonial apologism; it's a large part of why many continue to understand Rhodes as a benevolent founder and benefactor.

"[60] The tendency of a growing number of Rhodes Scholars to enter business or private law, as opposed to public service for which the scholarship was intended, has been a source of frequent criticism and "occasional embarrassment.

Fred Paterson defended workers and unions at a reduced price, before he sat in parliament as the first and only Communist party member in Australian history.

He would go on to write Death at an Early Age: The Destruction of the Hearts and Minds of Negro Children in the Boston Public Schools, after witnessing first-hand the devastating effect educational inequality was having on America.

Two-time Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Nick Kristof was pivotal in shedding light on atrocities such as Tiananmen Square and the Darfur genocide.

[90] In 2014, Iranian Rhodes Scholar Pardis Sabeti used genome sequencing and computational genetics to identify the source of the Ebola outbreak in West Africa.

He observed that shifts in the developing world, particularly dietary changes and increased urbanization, lead to higher incidences of heart attacks and strokes.

[101][102] Other surgical innovations brought about by Rhodes Scholars include the GliaSite technique, a device that lowers the risks associated with radiation therapy in brain tumours.

Neurosurgeon Sir Hugh Cairns was a Rhodes Scholar for South Australia in 1917, whose treatment of Lawrence of Arabia led to research that informed the introduction of motorcycle helmets.

[105] Tasmanian Rhodes Scholar Richard Flanagan (Tasmania and Worcester, 1984) is a celebrated author, having been awarded the Man Booker Prize in 2014 for his novel The Narrow Road to the Deep North.

In 2006 (before receiving a Rhodes Scholarship), lawyer and current Lieutenant Governor of New York Antonio Delgado critiqued capitalism and racial injustice under the name "AD the Voice.

"[106] Roughly 90 years previously, the phrase "keeping it real" was used by Rhodes scholar Alain Locke in his book The New Negro to describe the pursuit of in the face of mainstream media's portrayal of African American culture.

[109] [needs update] Rhodes Scholar Brian Greene co-founded ISCAP, Columbia's Institute for Strings, Cosmology, and Astroparticle Physics.