Nineteen talented individuals have been selected to receive Commonwealth Scholarships in low and middle income countries for the current academic year.

These fully-funded scholarships allow students from any Commonwealth country to study for a Master's programme at an ACU member institution in a low or middle-income Commonwealth country, other than their home nation. The scholarships are majority-funded by the Commonwealth Scholarship and Fellowship Plan (CSFP) endowment fund, which is administered by the ACU.

This year, successful applicants have taken up scholarships at:

• COMSATS Institute of Information Technology (CIIT), Pakistan
• Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Ghana
• Moi University, Kenya
• National University of Lesotho
• Papua New Guinea University of Technology
• Stellenbosch University, South Africa
• University of Colombo, Sri Lanka
• University of Dhaka, Bangladesh
• University of Malawi
• University of Nairobi, Kenya
• University of Pretoria, South Africa
• University of Rwanda
• University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Sri Lanka
• University of Swaziland
• University of the South Pacific
• University of the West Indies
• University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa

The new scholars come from a total of 11 different Commonwealth countries and are studying a wide range of subjects including, amongst others, Agriculture, Criminology, Chemistry, and Economics. To read more about this year's successful scholars, please see this list.

One recent arrival is Henry Chukwuebuka Ezechukwu from Nigeria, who landed in Sri Lanka on 7 February to begin his MSc in Cellular and Molecular Immunology at the Institute of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Biotechnology (IBMBB) at University of Colombo.

We spoke to Henry about why he applied for a scholarship at IBMBB – he says:

'Almost every disease, either acquired or inherited, has a genetic and immunological basis for its occurrence. For this to be addressed, there is a need to understand the cellular and molecular basis of life, and that's what spurred my interest to pursue this Master's degree. IBMBB was my first-choice university of because of the multi-disciplinary set-up of the institute, well-structured state of the art teaching and the world-class academic research they are known for.'

'As a result, I believe that my assiduity to learn in a dynamic cosmopolitan city will be achieved, and this is exactly what I encountered when I came to Sri Lanka. The environment and the people are intellectually stimulating. I'm looking forward to learning under the tutelage of well-seasoned experts in immunology.'

Applications for the next round of these scholarships are open until Friday 10 March 2017. For more information and to apply, see: https://www.acu.ac.uk/scholarships/commonwealth-scholarships/