Rhodes House, Oxford, 22 November 2021
The Rhodes Trust is pleased to announce the selection of Ahmad Arman Al Huzaifi Shakir Husein, who has been awarded the prestigious Rhodes Scholarship for Malaysia. The Rhodes Scholarship is the world’s preeminent and oldest graduate fellowship, based at the University of Oxford since 1903. The Rhodes Scholarship for Malaysia is a partnership between the Rhodes Trust and Yayasan Khazanah. Arman will join next year’s class of Rhodes Scholars at University of Oxford in October 2022.
As the oldest and the most prestigious international scholarship programme in the world, The Rhodes Scholarship which aims to nurture public-spirited leaders for the future resonates with the objective and mandate of Yayasan Khazanah (“YK”) who plays a pivotal role in developing talents for the country.
With the shared vision and aspiration, the Rhodes Trust and YK entered into an agreement to establish the The Rhodes Scholarship for Malaysia in 2016. YK is currently the only organisation that Rhodes partner in Malaysia. This collaboration provides the opportunity to sponsor one Malaysian per year to pursue postgraduate studies in Oxford University in perpetuity. The first scholarship was awarded in 2017.
Elizabeth Kiss, Warden of the Rhodes Trust said, “We are so proud of the exceptional young people who are chosen every year to become Rhodes Scholars and become part of our community. We are proud that Scholars come from a vast array of backgrounds and have attained remarkable accomplishments in a wide range of fields, from physics to philosophy, medicine to history, engineering to anthropology. It is that diversity of background and thinking that makes our community special. What unites them is their curiosity, character, academic excellence and their desire to make a difference. Volunteers put in hundreds of hours to choose brilliant people regardless of background who will benefit from the rich intellectual resources of the University of Oxford, and can become part of a lifelong community of global impact.”
Intan Zalila Mohd Yusof, Senior Vice President at Yayasan Khazanah said: “Despite the ongoing global health pandemic, Arman; our 2022 Rhodes Trust Elect from Malaysia, still sought ways to empower his fellow students to contribute back to the community. This is a strong reflection of his determination and passion to alleviate societal challenges. We look forward to hearing about Arman’s success stories at Rhodes, and witnessing the transformative impact he will make in society in the future.”
Arman is a junior majoring in Economics and History at Columbia University. In the wake of the pandemic, he founded MRA Siswa, the student-led wing of the Malaysian Relief Agency that empowers university students to volunteer in six different fields of service. He is also the founding Editor-in-Chief of Econsilience, a multidisciplinary undergraduate research journal publishing original works on Malaysian and ASEAN issues. Arman believes ardently in the power of historical and statistical thinking in formulating effective policies.
At Oxford, he hopes to further his studies in these two methods by pursuing a master’s degree in Economic and Social History and another in Economics for Development. Upon graduating, Arman plans to join Bank Negara Malaysia as a graduate trainee, crafting policies for a more resilient, sustainable, and equitable post-COVID economy. In his free time, Arman enjoys cycling, hiking, and exploring urban green spaces. He also likes getting lost in the multilingual concrete jungle of New York City, mainly to practice the four languages he picked up in the past five years with strangers he meets and befriends in the process.
The Rhodes Scholarship for Malaysia in Partnership with Yayasan Khazanah was established in 2016. To date, 8 Malaysians have been awarded this scholarship.