Meet Sameer Bhat – the first Kashmiri to secure the prestigious Rhodes scholarship

The Rhodes scholarship is one of the world's most competitive scholarships with the overall global acceptance rate standing at 0.7 percent

By: Kanishk Singh |
October 30, 2017 2:09 pm

A Kashmiri law student at Gujarat National Law University, Sameer Rashid Bhat was awarded the prestigious Rhodes Scholarship 2018 to study a postgraduate course in law at Oxford University. Sameer is first from both the Kashmir valley and GNLU to make it to the prestigious community of Rhodes Scholars.

Hailing from Pushroo, Nowgam village in the district Anantnag, Sameer studied at Modern Public School, Nowgam before moving to Iqbal Memorial Institute, Srinagar where he completed his secondary and senior secondary education. Sameer was offered a job at Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas, a leading law firm in India just after completing his third year of law study even though the placements for his batch were to start towards the end of their fourth year.

The Rhodes Scholarship is one of the world’s most prestigious international scholarships awarded to students to study a postgraduate course at the University of Oxford. The Rhodes Scholarship is named after British mining magnate and South African politician Cecil John Rhodes and is administered by the Rhodes Trust. Rhodes Scholars are chosen after a rigorous three-step process that includes passing a university-internal endorsement process and sitting through interviews to earn a fully-paid place to study at Oxford. According to the Rhodes Trust, the overall global acceptance rate stands at 0.7 percent, making it one of the most competitive scholarships in the world.

Former Chief Minister of Jammu & Kashmir, Omar Abdullah congratulated Sameer for achieving the feat.

Congratulations Sameer & all the very best for the future. https://t.co/7Ul8QiJliR

— Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah) October 30, 2017

Along with Sameer, Nagpur University graduate Rahul Bajaj, who was born blind due to a rare retinal condition, too secured the Rhodes scholarship 2018.

Sameer plans to study Comparative Human Rights Law, Criminal Justice, Security and Constitutional Theory in the BCL programme at Oxford.

Source: Rising Kashmir