significant achievement in HSMP & under MBA Provision

[bubbu64]

Hello everybody

Two quick questions

I have read quite a few posts on the assessment of HSMP points under the significant achievement category. One of the various heads under which this could be is " scholarships"

I am British Council Chevening Scholar (only one scholarship awarded in a year for the MBA program by the british goverment) and I pursued this in one of the top 50 schools listed in the HSMP MBA Provision.

My first question is " would this qualify for points under the significant achievement category".

My second question is "having a MBA from one of the top fifty schools under the MBA Provision but graduated in 2002 can I apply?" If not I would rather call this unfair. And any hope of this criteria being revised.

Your replies are appreciated

Thanks

[Chess]

1. You must have obtained your MBA within the last 12 months of the start of the scheme.

2). Having won a British Council Scholarship is NOT a significant achievement

[Jama]

Hi Chess,

This is quite disappoiting news for me as I claimed points for scholarships too. The HSMP guidelines lists "scholarship" as one of achievements....I have been awarded a joint schoralship from one of the British Universities, the British Council and the Open Society Institute to do my LLM.

Are you sure this is a case?

Many thanks,

Jama

[bubbu64]

I have a bad habit and that is " never give up"

I am going to give the HSMP a try. I have other points covered up and who knows they may give points under the scholarships category. Getting a British Chevening Scholarship especially in a country like India is tough considering the competition. I am not going to think about CHESS scaring me up. And besides 315 quid is not much if you are applying with the earnings taken in mind. Its a one time investment.

Thanks anyway

[Jama]

Hi bubbu64!

I like your habit! Never give up. As I said I have also claimed scores for scholarship. I do not want to sound immodest, but it is an achevement....I believe they will give us these scores.

Tace care,

Jama x

[Chess]

Bubu and Jama.

A scholarship is not a special achievement.

In some countries - you can 'buy' these scholarships. HSMP team is aware of this...

[Jama]

Hi Chess,

if it is not an achevement, why do they list it as one of the achievements in the guidlines?? Or may be they talk about something different? By the way it was hard to get that scholarship, the competition was taugh, and i did not buy it

Thanks,
Jama

[Chess]

Hi Chess,

if it is not an achevement, why do they list it as one of the achievements in the guidlines?? Or may be they talk about something different? By the way it was hard to get that scholarship, the competition was taugh, and i did not buy it

Thanks,
Jama

Jama,

I diodnt imply that you bought the scholarship...

...you need to provide three sources of evidence to demonstrate that your Scholarship is a high achievement.




Forexample, I am a Chartered Civil Engineer and a Member of the Institution of Civil Engineers, which is the preeminent professional engineering institution in the world.

Becoming a Member is no joke! However, I would not classify it as a significant acheievement!!

Do you think obtaining a PhD in 'Brain Sugery' or Heart surgery is a significant achievement? but it is not in my view....

If a PhD is not a significant achievement - then a Scholarship at Havard University is not

[rella]

It's pretty tough to get the significant achievement points. The guidance notes state this:

7.4.3 Two scoring levels are available. Those who can show significant achievement may not be known outside their field of expertise, or not yet be recognised on an international basis but have developed a body of work that is acknowledged by their peers as contributing significantly to the development of their area of work. 7.4.4 Those with an exceptional achievement in their chosen field will be at the top of their profession, be recognised beyond their field of expertise and have obtained international recognition.

If you look at the examples for each type of achievement, it is beyond scholarships. If you had a scholarship, had an invention, won a nationally recognized prize, had press writeups about it, and had publications that were of note, then you'd probably get the points. To get the exceptional achievement points, they give the example of a Nobel Prize! Somehow, I don't think anyone with a Nobel Prize would be applying for HSMP! Any country that person wanted to go to, would allow them in -- any university or industry would gladly do all the immigration paperwork!

There's no reason not to try to get sig achievement if you have 3 things to document it. Why not? All they can do is not give you points. Of course, you can irritate the caseworker, but they seem so inconsistent these days, who knows what they are thinking anyway.

My hubby applied for sig achievement and we have no idea if they gave him the points (first app approved, but had to reapply again). He had three publications in prestigious journals that had been cited numerous times by the biggest people in his field and one top guy (academic ref) wrote that hubby had "changed the way we see the early universe." He also had a glowing letter from a successful president of a company that was nearly embarrassing for hubby to read, it was so complimentary. We still didn't expect for my hubby to get the points. And unless you have to get sig achievement to get enough points to be approved or you get rejected, no one really knows if they were awarded those points anyway, since the HO doesn't give a point breakdown in the approval letter.

[bubbu64]

Thanks Mr Chess

So according to you a scholarship awarded by the British Chevening Programme and the British Council which invites the following statistics can be purchased?

The stats are

No of applications in my case - approx 1500 applications
No of stages of selection - 4 Stages
No of inteviews I had to give - 8 interviews
Amount of scholarship - 80000 pounds
Period of study - two years
Type of course - MBA

According to these stats you say this is not significant.
Given these stats according to you I had the nerve to Bribe or shall we say buy the scholarship from the British Council when every guy in the world knows what the British Council is. If I had such a large amount of money I would have started my business rather than wasting my time buying degrees and scholarships or applying for the HSMP.

Humans go abroad for various reasons - economic, political, socio, academic, professional. I unfortunately went to buy one degree, when I know that most of the universities which come to India for canvassing students come for money and dont care which damm degrees you hold.

The toughest part was unfortunately London Business School refuses to sell its degrees and hence I had to apply for the scholarship. If according to you getting into London Business School on a full scholarship based on the numbers above is not significant then I do not know what to say. Please come to India and feel the competition.

SURELY THE MEMBERS OF THE HSMP TEAM ARE NOT IGNORAMUSES

Thanks Mr Chess

(have your ever defeated Gary Kasparov significantly btw)

[Chess]

Bubu,

I NEVER said your bought your Scholarship.

By the way I studied in the UK for 4 years on a Scholarship so your 2 years on a British Council scholarship is really nothing to write home about

I repeat once again. A SCHOLARHIP is NOT a significant achievement.

Good luck with your endeavours...

[rella]

Bubbu,

What do you have in addition to the scholarship? You have to have 3 pieces of evidence, minimum, to get acheivement points.

For the lowest level of acheivement, you have to show that you are considered one of the top in your field in your country, with national recognition of your peers. A student with scholarship isn't a professional achievement, it's an academic acheivement.

If you think you can get points, by all means, apply for it. But, it's always best for anyone, no matter what their acheivements are, to have adequate points documented to get them to a min of 65 from other catogories. Of all of the categories, the acheivement category is by far the most subjective one for the caseworker and who knows what they deem as worthy of points?

Good luck.

[bubbu64]

I am curious to know at what level did you study for 4 years on a scholarship.

Btw rella if one was of the top most in his/her field and had national recognition he/she wouldnt have bothered to apply for the HSMP after being feted and respected in his/her country. It would be a waste of time.

Regards

[Chess]

I am curious to know at what level did you study for 4 years on a scholarship.

4 years undergraduate..

[hk_007]

I am British Council Chevening Scholar (only one scholarship awarded in a year for the MBA program by the british goverment) and I pursued this in one of the top 50 schools listed in the HSMP MBA Provision.

My first question is " would this qualify for points under the significant achievement category".

If this is the only achievement you are going to show, then in all probability you will not get any points. If this is in addition to other scholarships, paper publications, peer reviews etc. then you could expect to be awarded points.

[Jama]

Hi everyone,

It seems that Chess was right, just received a text from a friends of mine who was refused in the Highly Skilled Migrant Status just because they did not consider her British Council Scholarship an achivemment......

So as we can see the Home Office does not consider that kind of scholarship and achievement, but then again I do not understand why they mislead people by listing a scholarship/research award among in the achievement category???

Take care all,
Jama

[JhonnyECU]

hey Jama,

you have been given very wise advice here from dear members...

the only thing i could emphazise is on the fact that you MUST show that your piece of work was considered influential to the ones in your field.

is there any way you can prove that what you studied in your scholarship was of great benefit for the progress of your field in your homecountry?

if so, are there any newspaper articles, webpages, any national institution supporting that?

are you considered at the top of your field in your country?

when you can answer all those questions, you might give it a try under this very uncertain category

that is all i can suggest you until now

keep us posted

jhonny

[bani]

Hi, I claimed significant achievement in my application too last year. I had a full scholarship for a PhD (Biochemistry) in the US. Case worker was not even interested in this! Fortunately, I had research publications during my PhD and was later asked to provide

- detailed letter stating what my role in those publications were (this I got from my PhD supervisor)

- a letter from an expert in the field stating what the significance of those publications were (I got from another scientist in the UK I had not worked with but was familiar with my research)

So while the scholarship is impressive, it is not enough for the 15 points. You really need to show recognition in your field of work, and in my case, they demanded thorough documentation. If you can do this, then apply for the category and by all means include the scholarship to make your case stronger -- get a letter from the British Council stating how competitive it is and why you were chosen (has to be full of praises). Good luck, I hope you can add something to your application and not give up .