The Rhodes Trust

The Rhodes Trust is governed by a Board of Trustees,[29] and the Warden of Rhodes House acts as Secretary to the Trust. The Rhodes Trust, established in 1902 under the terms and conditions of the will of Cecil Rhodes, and by subsequent Acts of Parliament, is an educational charity[21] whose principal activity is to support scholars selected from the citizens of 14 specified geographic constituencies to study at the University of Oxford. Rhodes Scholarships for up to three years have been awarded annually since 1903.[22] The goals of Cecil Rhodes in creating the Scholarships were to promote civic-minded leadership among young people with (in the words of his 1899 Will) "moral force of character and instincts to lead", and (in the words of a 1901 codicil to his Will) to help "render war impossible" through promoting understanding between the great powers. In 2002, in partnership with Nelson Mandela, the Rhodes Trust established the Mandela Rhodes Scholarship.[24] The Rhodes Trust provides the Rhodes Scholarships in partnership with the Second Century Founders, John McCall MacBain O.C., the Atlantic Philanthropies, and other benefactors. In 2016 the Trust announced a partnership with Atlantic Philanthropies to create an Atlantic Institute, which has offices at Rhodes House. Funding for this project allowed the Trust to expand the total number of Rhodes Scholars and to offer scholarships to students from Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Israel, China, and West Africa.[25] In 2017, the Schmidt Science Fellows programme was launched as a partnership between Schmidt Futures and the Rhodes Trust.[26] The programme was established to facilitate cross-discipline research that could lead to scientific breakthroughs.