Now in its 15th year, the Crown Prince International Scholarship Programme sends six students to study abroad annually. Programme Director, Cynthia Gessling, tells The PIE how it reaches out to students of all backgrounds and shares some of its success stories.
The PIE: So tell me about the programme and how you came to be involved.
CG: I’ve been an educator all my life. The opportunity to become the Director was really by chance that I was in Bahrain and the Crown Prince had an interest in my background because he knew I truly loved all children, and so it was just an amazing opportunity that he invited me to be part of his programme.
The PIE: When did the programme start?
CG: The inception was in 1999 when the Crown Prince had just completed his degrees in Washington, DC, and Cambridge in the UK. When he came back at this early age, at 29, he realised what an amazing opportunity he had that many people would never have due to their circumstances, be it economics or lack of exposure or lack of opportunity to compete.
So he made the commitment to developing a scholarship programme that would level the playing field for all young people in the Kingdom of Bahrain. So at that time he began his programme, any Bahraini young person that completed their first semester of Grade 11 that had a 97% GPA would be eligible for application.
“Any Bahraini young person that completed their first semester of Grade 11 that had a 97% GPA would be eligible for application”
The PIE: And is it really open to all? Are there students from a very low economic background?
CG: It’s all backgrounds. Some people will argue, why do you allow someone that has wealth to become part of the programme? Well, the Crown Prince is totally transparent and fair, and thinks ‘just like me, I didn’t choose to have a dad for a king!’ so they didn’t choose their parents who have more money. So he selects strictly on merit.
The PIE: How many students get the scholarship?
CG: He selects 10 each year: four from private and six from the Ministry of Education. They are allowed to choose their course of study in seven countries: Singapore, UK, USA, Canada, Australia, France and Germany. He prefers them not to study in the GCC because they would be more limited in terms of using their Arabic, their comfort zone.
“He prefers them not to study in the GCC because they would be more limited in terms of using their Arabic, their comfort zone. He really encourages diversity and challenge”
There are no restrictions on what they want to study, except medicine – and this decision is based on there being a lot of doctors in the Kingdom of Bahrain, and also the specialty is very limited for competition coming from a second language kingdom in the US or the UK.
The PIE: Do you keep in touch with all the scholarship recipients?
CG: Yes. He actually meets with them twice a year on an individual basis at winter break and spring recess to just have an informal chat on how they’re doing. We also have an alumni group. Also, unique to this scholarship is he doesn’t require them to come back to Bahrain.
The PIE: How many have returned to Bahrain?
CG: About 40%. He actually prefers they don’t come back immediately. He really values the education; they have to keep a 90 percentile or 3.0 GPA to keep the scholarship. But for him, the global experience – the opportunities to think differently – that’s what he wants. He doesn’t want a cookie-cutter kid.
The PIE: How much money can each scholar receive?
CG: If you start at your Bachelors and go all the way to your Doctoral, it could be as much as half a million dollars by the time you pay all the boarding, the benefits, the allowances. He pays for everything.
“If you start at your bachelors and go all the way to your doctoral, it could be as much as $500,000. He pays for everything”
The PIE: That’s incredible.
CG: It is. And what’s incredible is no one has ever disappointed him. There’s no one that would ever not do more than 110% on their studies and giving back. The other thing that is very unique about our programme is they do a lot of internships and volunteer. A lot of our young people end up being leaders on their campuses; they’ve developed and designed different types of models for cultural studies, tutoring – so they’re not just going to school and getting a degree.
The PIE: Do you think that’s what he’s trying to achieve here – putting Bahrain on the map?
CG: Yes. Well, he wants to have these young people come back as leaders in his country and to develop the expertise from the subjects they’ve studied in all their different career fields.
The PIE: Is this scholarship well known in Bahrain?
CG: Very. In fact, now we’re in our 15th anniversary year it’s becoming very competitive, and it’s amazing now at a young age people know that this is going to be available. Along with that, he has established an endowment fund, I believe it was in 2006, so it will be forever. We have lots of big sponsors that are putting money towards it, it’s not just his money.
The PIE: Who are the sponsors?
CG: It’s a lot of the banking community, Investcorp, some community leaders, GPIC, the oil companies…
The PIE: How much money do you think the Crown Prince has given to the scholarship fund over the 15 year period?
CG: I couldn’t give you the exact amount but it’s over one and a half million dinars (US$4m) every year of his own money. The other thing is he supports all their summer school, study abroad, internship.
The PIE: So you’ve got a real global citizen hothouse.
“One girl went to boarding school in the US, she said ‘I’m going to go to Yale’. Everyone made fun of her – she went to Yale. Now she’s a top lawyer”
CG: Oh, my! They’re humbling. One guy just got a job for Formula One, he’s developed engine parts; we’ve got Microsoft engineers; we’ve got one girl who started off in a village school, her parents never graduated high school. She went to boarding school in the US, she said ‘I’m going to go to Yale’. Everyone made fun of her – she went to Yale. She said ‘I’m going to go to Columbia University – she went to Columbia University. Now she’s a top lawyer.
The PIE: Was going to boarding school part of the scholarship?
CG: Yes. If they’re in the Ministry school, because they get limited English instruction. Most of it’s Arabic. We don’t want them to be limited to a lower-level university, so we send them to two years of the top boarding schools in the UK and the US and then they all get into Stanford and Harvard. And those boarding schools at the limit for tuition are at least $60,000 at year. He does not limit them up until PhD.
