His Majesty King Charles III inspired new Commonwealth Fellowship Programme launches

London, UK / Apia, Samoa / Sydney, Australia

Strictly embargoed until Saturday, 19 October 2024, 22:00 BST / Sunday, 20 October 2024, 08:00 AEDT / Sunday, 20 October 2024, 10:00 WST

Today, the Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU) launches the King’s Commonwealth Fellowship Programme. Inspired by His Majesty King Charles III, and his life’s work to create opportunity and to tackle contemporary challenges including climate change and inequality, the programme has been developed in response to urgent economic, social and environmental development challenges affecting Small Island Developing States (SIDS).

An ambitious interdisciplinary three-part initiative, it will offer fellowships for mid-career
professionals, undergraduate scholarships, and PhDs. Delivered together, these three
strands will enable sustained short, medium and long-term impact for Commonwealth
SIDS and their communities

Commonwealth Small Island Developing States (SIDS) are among the most vulnerable
countries in the world, facing numerous economic and environmental shocks, youth outmigration and skills shortages in public services, and experiencing disproportionate and
deeply damaging effects of climate change.

Efforts to strengthen their resilience and capacity to tackle these intersecting development
challenges are urgent. Inspired by The King and established with a significant personal
donation from His Majesty, The King’s Commonwealth Fellowship Programme (KCFP) has
been co-created in partnership with universities and stakeholders in SIDS and from across
the Commonwealth.

Activities included in the programme will take place in-country, with an emphasis on local
impact and retaining skills and talent in SIDS regions. The programme aims to strengthen
climate resilience, build capacity in education, health and engineering, and develop
resilient public services and the skills of those who support them, by:

• supporting civil servants, local government and mid-senior career professionals to
  further develop their skills, knowledge and understanding of climate resilience and
  its impact on other sectors through part-time fellowships undertaken alongside
  work;
• addressing significant capacity challenges in key education, healthcare and
  engineering sectors via undergraduate training;
• upskilling university academic staff and ‘train the trainers’ of future generations of
  researchers and workers in industries vital to SIDS resilience, through PHDs
  delivered in collaboration with ACU’s network of universities across the
  Commonwealth.

This prestigious programme will fully fund, train and support multiple cohorts of
undergraduate, postgraduate and mid-career King’s Fellows in its first few years and seeks
to engage participants from every Commonwealth SIDS. The programme will be tailored
to the specific and unique needs of SIDS, but with broad thematic focus areas to facilitate
knowledge sharing. Participants will have the opportunity to join a cohort of SIDS King’s
Fellows, with the opportunity to network and exchange learning and shared problem
solving with peers across SIDS and with ACU’s wider network of universities.

His Majesty The King said: “I am delighted to support this important new initiative.
Throughout my life I have believed in the power of education to improve lives and unite
communities across the Commonwealth and beyond. There is so much we can learn from
one another as we work together within the Commonwealth to tackle the major challenges
of our age and, as these Fellowships do in Small Island Developing States, to address
them where they are felt most acutely. It is my fervent hope that these new Fellowships
will play a significant role in furthering the free exchange of knowledge and advancing the
spirit of mutual support that lies at the heart of our Commonwealth – today, tomorrow and
towards a brighter future for all.”

Professor Colin Riordan, ACU Secretary General and Chief Executive comments: “It is an
honour to have the opportunity to design and deliver this one-of-a-kind programme
inspired by His Majesty The King, the ACU’s Patron. Creating opportunities and facilitating
knowledge exchange are at the heart of what we do, and drawing on our longstanding
expertise in scholarships and the local knowledge of our member universities in
Commonwealth Small Island Developing States, we are proud to work in partnership with
our members in a range of Commonwealth countries to support the delivery of this
important SIDS-focused legacy programme in His Majesty’s name.”

The Commonwealth Fellowship Programme is launched in celebration of 75 years of the
Commonwealth, and in support of this year’s theme for the Commonwealth Heads of
Government Meeting (CHOGM) ‘One Resilient Common Future: Transforming our Common
Wealth’. His Majesty The King as the Head of the Commonwealth and Patron of the ACU
will ceremonially launch the programme in Samoa during CHOGM.

The King’s Commonwealth Fellowship Programme will be delivered by the ACU, a global
organisation with over 100 years’ experience of delivering transformative educational
opportunities, and a network of over 400 universities in more than 40 countries. The ACU
has deep expertise in scholarship management, programme design and delivery, and
monitoring and evaluation. His Majesty The King was named Patron of the ACU in May
2024, succeeding his mother, The Late Queen, who held the role since 1986.

The King’s Commonwealth Fellowship Programme will be part of the Commonwealth
Scholarship and Fellowship Plan which has created life-changing opportunities for more
than 38,000 individuals since it was founded by Commonwealth Ministers of Education in
1959.