The Marshall Aid Commemoration Commission 66th Annual Report Year ending 30 September 2019 A Non-Departmental Public Body of SIXTY SIXTH ANNUAL REPORT of the Marshall Aid Commemoration Commission for the year ending 30 September 2019 Presented to Parliament by the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs pursuant to section 2(6) of Marshall Aid Commemoration Act 1953 April 2020 A Non-Departmental Public Body of SIXTY SIXTH ANNUAL REPORT of the Marshall Aid Commemoration Commission for the year ending 30 September 2019 ©Marshall Aid Commemoration Commission copyright 2020 This publication is licensed under the terms of the Open Government Licence v3.0 except where otherwise stated. To view this licence, visit nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3. Where we have identified any third party copyright information you will need to obtain permission from the copyright holders concerned. This publication is available at www.gov.uk/official-documents. 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CCS: CCS0320313914 ISBN: 978-1-5286-1836-6 Printed on paper containing 75% recycled fibre content minimum Printed in the UK by the APS Group on behalf of the Controller of Her Majesty’s Stationery Office Presented to Parliament by the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs pursuant to section 2(6) of Marshall Aid Commemoration Act 1953 April 2020 SIXTY SIXTH ANNUAL REPORT: MARSHALL AID COMMEMORATION COMMISSION 5 Index Introduction 4 Welcome from Mr Christopher Fisher, Commission Chair 6 Commission Membership and Meetings 8 Tailored Review 9 Scholars in Britain 2018/2019 10 Scholars’ Academic Subjects 11 Scholars Graduating 2019 12 Scholars’ Experiences 13 Departing Scholar Questionnaire 18 Marshall Events 19 Marshall Plus Programme 21 Communication and Outreach 22 Marshall Alumni, Association of Marshall Scholars 23 Selection of 2019 Marshall Scholars 27 Selection and Placement Policy 28 Marshall Sherfield Fellowships 32 Marshall Scholarship Stipends 32 Secretariat 32 Access to Information 32 Expenditure 32 Membership of the Commission and its Committees 33 Ambassador’s Advisory Council and Regional Selection Committees 34 Appendix 1 – Degree Results 38 Appendix 2 – University Partnership Scholarships 40 Appendix 3 – Chairs and Marshall Medal Recipients 42 Summary Accounts 44 6 SIXTY SIXTH ANNUAL REPORT: MARSHALL AID COMMEMORATION COMMISSION THE MARSHALL AID COMMEMORATION COMMISSION’S REPORT TO HER MAJESTY’S PRINCIPAL SECRETARY OF STATE FOR FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS. Pursuant to Section 2(6) of the Marshall Aid Commemoration Act 1953, we have the honour to submit the report of the Marshall Aid Commemoration Commission for the year ending 30 September 2019. Welcome from Mr Christopher Fisher In September 2019 it was my particular pleasure to welcome as many as 48 new Marshall Scholars to London at the start of their scholarship programme in the UK; this number compares with the 32 Scholars I had welcomed three years earlier. This 50 per cent increase in award numbers has arisen in two ways: firstly, the Prime Minister, in his then capacity as Foreign Secretary, decided at the end of 2016 to increase the Commission’s FCO grant by one third, building up over three years, which enabled eight additional awards to be made; and secondly, the Commission responded to this renewed endorsement of the Marshall Scholarship Programme by seeking increased third party support and has succeeded in attracting a doubling in its value, enabling a further eight awards to be funded. Overall, therefore, 32 of the 48 awards have been provided by the FCO while 16 were effectively funded by third parties. The catalytic effect of the Foreign Office’s strengthened commitment to the Programme is thereby self-evident, and we look forward to that level of commitment being sustained in the years ahead. The greatest source of increased third party support has come from Training Programme of the Civil Service. This new initiative – Marshall British universities and colleges where our partnership model has Connect, which I was able to announce in September 2019 - will pair been both broadened and deepened. Nearly all our Scholars will be each individual Scholar with a Fast Stream counterpart. The format studying at partner institutions, and I thank them most sincerely for is in its infancy and will inevitably evolve but the hope is that we can their valuable support. foster a range of connections at an individual, informal group and Class level which will both enhance the Scholars’ experience while If the scale and financial sustainability of the Programme have in the UK and provide a number of enduring and valuable connections. been transformed in recent years, the Commission has also been increasingly focused on the qualitative aspects of the Programme, To support these developments and other aspects of the Programme, starting with Scholar selection. Rightly we select on merit, looking for in the summer the Commission also decided to form a Scholarship academic excellence and leadership and ambassadorial potential. I Experience Committee to give greater focus to its oversight on the believe we have been very successful in meeting these criteria but, as non-academic aspects of the Programme, complementing the existing future people of influence, we also want the Class we select to have Education Committee, and to provide a more structured opportunity the attributes of talented young America. Our efforts in relation to to consider Scholar feedback. Suzanne McCarthy had kindly agreed to diversity and outreach are clearly yielding positive results, though we be the first chair of this new committee. Underpinning our Scholars’ recognise this remains a work in progress. overall experience in the UK is the continuing support and guidance they receive from our dedicated staff, led by Mary Denyer. We have also increasingly been turning our attention to the experience Scholars have while they are in the UK. Primarily this An established part of the Programme is the annual Easter trip to a will be a function of where and what they choose to study and all part of the UK beyond London and the South East of England. On that flows from this, but we have also been keeping under regular this occasion we visited Northern Ireland, having visited Manchester review the scope and nature of the UK programme itself. We have and Liverpool the previous year. We were made particularly welcome revitalised the Marshall Plus offering and last year launched, with by Queen’s University Belfast and by the authorities at Stormont, the generous support of the Association of Marshall Scholars (AMS), and the Scholars enjoyed a rich variety of experiences in Belfast and our alumni organisation, Marshall Xtra, under which each Scholar Derry/Londonderry. While the reality of the Troubles predates the received a supplementary annual award of £1000 to enhance the firsthand memory of our Scholars, the fragility of the current peace opportunities available to them while in the UK. In the summer we was made evident by the murder of the journalist Lyra McKee the reached agreement with the Cabinet Office on a new partnership week after our visit. between the Scholarship Programme and the Fast Stream Graduate SIXTY SIXTH ANNUAL REPORT: MARSHALL AID COMMEMORATION COMMISSION 7 The principal guest at our Annual Dinner in May was the broadcaster committee with great distinction for many years and welcome her and journalist, Trevor Phillips, who was able to share a range of successor Prabal Chakrabarti. Our Regional Selection Committees thoughts on contemporary Britain as well as insights into trans- are a great asset of the Programme, and I reiterate the Commission’s Atlantic relationships, particularly drawing on his experience as the appreciation of the care and diligence which all their members give in first chair of the UK’s Equality and Human Rights Commission. The participating in our selection processes. Dinner is an occasion to celebrate the achievements of those Scholars whose time with us is drawing to a close as well an opportunity to The Association of Marshall Scholars remains a vibrant and successful express our appreciation of the wider family of our supporters whose organisation. Its annual Forum this year was held in Washington engagement is so important to the Programme. and focused on economics and finance and its participants included the Governor of the Bank of England. The Association’s During the autumn/winter of 2018/19, the Programme was subject presidency has passed from Andrew Klaber to Meena Seshamani, to a Review initiated by the Cabinet Office the findings of which with continuing support from Nell Breyer. I thank Andrew for the were published in March 2019. Such formal reviews of arms’ length energy and commitment he brought to this role and to the success bodies, their activities and their sponsoring departments are routinely he and Nell have had in bringing renewed strength and ambition undertaken every few years to ensure programmes remain relevant to the Association, and wish Meena every success with her new and are discharged in accordance with the appropriate statutory and responsibilities. The AMS is a generous supporter of the Programme regulatory framework and observing best governance practice. The and a number of individual alumni are particularly so; this is much Commission welcomed this Review and the opportunity it presented appreciated. Our alumni continue to make significant contributions to promote a wider understanding of the value and efficacy of the to their various fields of endeavor. In the last year this was notably Scholarship Programme and of the nature of the Commission itself symbolised by the active presence for some six months of NASA as a virtual organisation of volunteers supported by a small but astronaut Anne McClain on the International Space Station in her highly effective team of contracted-in staff. The conclusions of the capacity as flight engineer.