In autumn of last year, I had the privilege of visiting the metropolis of Santiago in Chile, a mere 14 and a half hour flight away from Chevening HQ in London. Touching down in the Southern hemisphere, the dark cold days of London were left behind us, as we arrived at the start of Chilean summer.
The purpose of the trip was to support post in securing local partnerships in order to ensure that as many Chileans as possible can take part in the scheme from 2018. The Chevening officer and I, along with support from Department of International Trade colleagues, set about negotiating with potential partners, and I was encouraged by the response we received as they took interest in the opportunities Chevening could offer. This experience also brought to light the intricacies of negotiation within a specific country context.
During lunch with the Chilean Chevening Alumni, I was fascinated to learn about the historical ties of the UK and Chile, including a settlement of English and Welsh immigrants in Patagonia, during the nineteenth century. One alumna explained that, along with her desire to join a prestigious programme by studying through Chevening, she had always been intrigued to find out more about her British ancestry. It is estimated that there are nearly 400,000 descendants of British immigrants in Chile!
Thank you to all Chevening officers and colleagues at post who work tirelessly to negotiate, establish, and renew local partnerships, without which so many of our scholars would not have the opportunity to study on a Chevening Award. Please do let your ILO know if you would be interested in local partnerships in your country.
The Americas Directorate has recently been very busy hosting a series of roundtable discussions for various Latin American scholar groups. I have been lucky enough to attend a few of these, including one for Argentinian scholars, another for Central American and Cuban scholars, and another for a large group of Brazilian scholars. The discussions largely focused on […]
Two Chevening officer regional conferences have recently taken place around the globe: the first in South-East Asia and the second in Sub-Saharan Africa. These are the third and fourth regional conferences that have taken place since the initiative was first launched in 2015. Both conferences were organised and attended by members of the International team […]
Meet Programme Officer – International, Natalie. Before joining Chevening, Natalie lived in Hue, Vietnam, where she taught English as a foreign language after falling in love with South-East Asia during a five-month long trip. Name: Natalie Keen Countries: ASEAN (ODA) and East Africa From: Surrey, England Joined the team: June 2016 Previous Chevening experience: I joined […]