•  •  Dark Mode

Your Interests & Preferences

I am a...

law firm lawyer
in-house company lawyer
litigation lawyer
law student
aspiring student
other

Website Look & Feel

 •  •  Dark Mode
Blog Layout

Save preferences

Rhodes Scholarship India

23 November 2020

At least two Indian law students have secured this year’s Rhodes Scholarship to study for a fully-funded postgraduate degree at Oxford University.

22 November 2019

GNLU Gandhinagar final year student Hatim Hussain appears to be the only law student to have won the prestigious Rhodes Scholarship this year to study a fully-funded postgraduate degree at Oxford University, having been selected with several others (pictured above).

21 October 2018

NUJS Kolkata 2019 graduate Mihika Poddar has been selected for the prestigious Rhodes scholarship to study in Oxford University.

30 October 2017

Nagpur University graduate Rahul Bajaj and GNLU Gandhingar's Sameer Rashid Bhat have passed the Rhodes Trust's rigorous interviews to earn a fully-paid for place to continue their studies of law at Oxford University.

03 January 2017

For NLSIU Bangalore - India’s first ever law school to break at the 36-year-old World Universities Debating Championship (WUDC) – it took a professional debating coach, a voluminous matter file, and “a good amount of luck” this year, said the NLSIU team.

24 November 2016

The latest new Rhodes scholarsFor Rhodes 2017 scholars aiming for the Oxford University BCL, international criminal law and human rights law specialisations were top preferences, while honesty, self-reflection and passion were game clinchers.

23 November 2016

Nuals Kochi student Mary Kavita Dominic, NUJS Kolkata’s Gauri Pillai and NLSIU Bangalore's Vanshaj Jain have been awarded the prestigious Rhodes Scholarship to study at a postgraduate course of their choice for a year in Oxford University, alongside two other non-law students.

28 November 2014

NLSIU Bangalore and Nalsar Hyderabad final year LLB students Mansi Sood and Sanya Samtani are, respectively, among nearly 85 scholars selected by the Rhodes trust, for its Oxford University class of 2015.

A Delhi University sociology student and one economics student and one Bangalore medical student are the other Indians selected for the class. The five Indian's who have made it to this year's Rhodes class include four women.

Samtani’s profile on Oxford’s website states:

“Her primary area of interest lies at the intersection of public international law, constitutional law and critical theory. Having been a teaching assistant for public international law and constitutional law, she envisages a career in academia. Whilst in NALSAR, she served as senior editor of the NALSAR Student Law Review; editor of the Indian Journal of Intellectual Property Law, having edited a special issue on the Global South, and student editor of ILSA's International and Comparative Law Quarterly. Furthermore, she has been on the organizing committees of the NALSAR Film Festival and the NALSAR Inter Varsity Debating Championship.”

Sood's profile on the website states:

"Her interest lies in commercial law, with a primary focus on arbitration and intellectual property law. Currently serving as the Chief Editor of the National Law School of India Review, Mansi has helped in organising the Annual Symposium for the past three years. She has participated in several national and international moot court competitions and recently won the 5th International ADR Mooting Competition at Hong Kong. Besides mooting, Mansi also enjoys parliamentary debating and writing. A trained Kathak dancer, she likes to play sports, particularly badminton."

Last year law students from NLSIU and NUJS Kolkata won the Rhodes.

Hat-tip to Lawctopus for first breaking the news.

EDIT 1 December 2014: Due to an incomplete list of profiles uploaded earlier on the Rhodes class link, this story had erroneously stated that only three Indians - all women - were selected for the class of 2015. This has now been corrected.

28 October 2013

Yadav: Oxford boundThe prestigious Rhodes scholarship this year was won by NLSIU Bangalore graduate Raag Yadav and NUJS Kolkata alumnus Amba Kak, alongside three non-lawyers.

25 November 2012

image Exclusive: Two lawyers – Arushi Garg from Nalsar Hyderabad and Anupama Kumar from NLSIU Bangalore - have won the prestigious Rhodes scholarship alongside three non-lawyers.

08 November 2011

The Radcliffe Camera is a cold, cold place in winterExclusive: NLSIU Bangalore student Vrinda Bhandari was the only Indian lawyer this year to have been awarded the prestigious Rhodes scholarship, continuing NLSIU’s streak of producing Rhodesians.

02 August 2011

imageExclusive: NLSIU Bangalore graduate and 2010 Rhodes scholar V Niranjan has bagged the prestigious Vinerian Scholarship after topping 140 students in Oxford University’s Bachelor of Civil Law (BCL) – a “simply outstanding” course, in his words.

24 October 2010

Oxford-Radcliffe-Camera-byWit Exclusive: Nalsar Hyderabad student Shreya Atrey and NLSIU Bangalore student Gautam Bhatia have won the prestigious 2011 Rhodes Scholarship as part of which they can study a law course for one year at the University of Oxford.

13 October 2009

Oxford-Radcliffe-Camera-byWitTwo students from NLSIU Bangalore and NALSAR Hyderabad have won the prestigious Rhodes scholarship for 2010 that will enable them to pursue a law course of their choice at the University of Oxford.

13 October 2009

Bill-Clinton-Rhodes-ScholarOne of the most (in)famous Rhodes Scholars is no doubt William Jefferson Clinton (pictured), who of course neither inhaled nor graduated in his time at Oxford.

The names of the latest batch of five Indian Rhodes Scholars were finalised on the eve of 12 October 2009 in Mumbai. As usual, students from the law dominated the list, with Aditya Swarup of NALSAR Hyderabad and V Niranjan of NLSIU Bangalore sweeping the field.

In India, out of hundreds of applicants only a few are selected and invited for a final round of interview. The number of finalists for this year was 18.

The scholarship programme requires the applicants to meet strict eligibility criteria laid down by the Rhodes Trust, which looks for qualities of moral and intellectual strength in a candidate. Cigar, Mr President, sir?

A preliminary round of interviews is then held for successful candidates in the regional centers of Mumbai (Pune), Delhi, Kolkata and Bangalore. This is then followed by a final interview.

NLSIU's Niranjan says the grant of a Rhodes scholarship had been the fulfillment of a long-standing dream of his to study at Oxford.

"I hope to pursue a career in litigation in India, and an education at Oxford is quite inspiring from that perspective, given Oxford's history. The Rhodes Scholarship is something everyone dreams of and my application process was a combination of excitement and apprehension," Niranjan told Legally India by email.

He writes: "I am given to understand that there are about 600 applicants for the Rhodes from India, and about 120 from law. India has five Rhodes scholarships. I applied in July, and was informed that I'd been shortlisted for the preliminary interview to be held in Mumbai on September 5, 2009.

"That interview panel was chaired by Professor V.S. Chauhan, Secretary, Rhodes Trust India, and also had eminent Rhodes scholars like Mr Nandan Kamath and Ms Menaka Guruswamy. The days following that interview were quite trying, as I was nervously awaiting the results. I was told two weeks later that I'd made it to the final interview, which was hosted yesterday at Mumbai.

"The final interview is quite an experience. The eminence of the interview panel makes it a wonderful process to go through, and yesterday's panel was chaired by Mr. Ratan Tata, the Chairman of the Rhodes Scholarship Selection Committee. Other panelists included Mr. Rahul Gandhi, Mr. Nandan Kamath, Mr. Sanjeev Sanyal, Ms. Rakhi Mehra and others. A Rhodes tradition is that a dinner is hosted by the selection committee the day before the interview, and this is a great chance to meet and interact with persons as eminent and accomplished as these.

"The interview itself lasted about 20 minutes, and was a very engaging process - I was questioned on the personal statement I had written, articles I have published, my career goals, accomplishments thus far, etc. Once again, waiting for results was a nerve-wracking experience, but this time the results were declared on the same day, which made it mercifully shorter!

"I couldn't quite believe it when my name was announced, and in truth, I still can't - I think it will take time for this to sink in but I'm more delighted than I've ever been. The Rhodes Scholarship is more than just a scholarship - it is an institution that is filled with world leaders spanning generations, and to be awarded the scholarship is both humbling and a reminder that there is so much to accomplish in one's field, which in my case is law.

"I can't find words to express my gratitude to the people who made this possible for me - first and foremost, my parents, my Professors at the National Law School, some of whom were my referees, law school alumni who wrote references for me, Mr. Arvind Datar, Senior Advocate, who gave me a chance to intern under him and wrote a reference for me, one of my schoolteachers, a couple of inspirational and wonderful seniors who have been guiding me right from when I entered law school, a few very good friends in law school and many other people.”

Have a look on the ever-helpful Wikipedia for some more background on the Rhodes scholarship.

Details of procedures in India are given on the web site of Rhodes Scholarships India.