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Commonwealth Scholarship and Fellowship Scheme

I first declare an interest as chancellor of the University of Aberdeen—a non-financial interest, I may say. There is so much expertise among noble Lords here that I thought that perhaps in the short time available to me I should concentrate on just two specific areas. One is Hong Kong—and I shall explain why in a moment—and the other Scotland, because of my position at Aberdeen. Hong Kong is, of course, no longer a member of the Commonwealth, but it is a very interesting historical example. From the start of the scheme in 1959 until 1997, when Hong Kong was no longer a member of the Commonwealth, 400 scholars from Hong Kong came to the UK. About 100 went elsewhere in the world; interestingly, about 120 went to Hong Kong from elsewhere, showing that one aspect of this Commonwealth scholarship scheme was the two-way flow, which is very useful indeed. What would be the historical lesson from that? Those who came on the scholarships, to the UK and elsewhere in the Commonwealth, helped to cement over a long period of time relationships between Hong Kong and the Commonwealth, which remain strong now. That has been for the benefit of Hong Kong, then and now, in helping to create Hong Kong as the international city which is its very essence. Furthermore, I argue that it would be of benefit to mainland China, of which Hong Kong is now a part, if the better-informed leaders in China realised the value of those historical Commonwealth connections. Incidentally, they are very strong in the universities. Finally, it is of great historical and continuing significance in the relationship with the United Kingdom. Therefore, there is the historical example of Hong Kong, where there have been numerous scholarships and they have been wholly beneficial to those three different parties. I turn briefly to Scotland. At the moment, there are 66 scholars in Scotland, 12 of them in Aberdeen, and they have also benefited from distance learning, as referred to by my noble friend Lord Luce. That has been a major part of the scheme. Most of the scholars in Scotland have been from the academic world—as the noble Lord, Lord McNally, said, they have been the teachers of the future leaders—but there has also been a considerable number of future leaders. The Deputy Prime Minister to whom my noble friend Lord Luce referred, is, I think, the Deputy Prime Minister of New Zealand, or was until some two weeks ago. That is a very good example of a political leader, and there have been other political leaders from around the Commonwealth whose names it would be wrong to list. Of the 66 scholars who are currently on this scheme in Scotland, only one is from the developed Commonwealth. That brings me to the general point to which other noble Lords have referred. It is a good thing that the Department for International Development is continuing the scheme for the underdeveloped, or developing, Commonwealth. It is good in a way that the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills has picked up the dropped ball from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and is continuing for a short period a scheme for those coming from the developed Commonwealth. However, like other noble Lords, it seems to me enormously important that there should continue to be Commonwealth scholars from the developed Commonwealth as well as from the developing Commonwealth, and that we should, as the Foreign Secretary said in that Statement in March, try to identify future leaders. That will be valuable to their countries and to us. However, even though the scheme for the developed Commonwealth has been reprieved for a short time, I cannot believe that you can run a decent scholarship scheme if it lasts for only a year or two. It just does not work like that. Like other noble Lords, I finish by saying that I hope that, in replying, the Minister will assure us all that there will be continuity in this scheme, as well as some joined-up government, so that, wherever it comes from, there will be continuing funding.