Another Rhodes scholarship for Otago

Iona Mylek. Photo by Peter McIntosh.
Iona Mylek. Photo by Peter McIntosh.
University of Otago graduate Iona Mylek, who is ''hugely concerned'' over global poverty and development issues, has been awarded a prestigious Rhodes scholarship.

Auckland University student Richard Higgins and former Canterbury University student Ryan Manton have also gained Rhodes scholarships to support study at Oxford University next year.

This is the latest in a remarkable string of Rhodes scholarship successes for Otago University students in recent years.

Miss Mylek (22) is the fifth Otago student to gain one of the scholarships since 2008.

Only nine were awarded to New Zealanders attending the country's eight universities in that time.

Otago graduates also received four of the six lucrative Rutherford scholarships awarded over the past two years, to support PhD study at Cambridge University.

And Otago students gained five out of 12 Woolf Fisher scholarships to study in England over the past four years.

Miss Mylek, who last year completed a BA (hons) in politics, was yesterday ''overwhelmed'' and ''quite humbled'' to gain the internationally respected scholarship.

''I never imagined I would have anything like this. It's a really incredible opportunity.''

She plans to tackle international development work.

Because of the field's complexity, it was ''just vital'' that the people involved had the ''best possible education'' in order to address the problems.

At Oxford, she intends to study for a masters degree at the department of international development, and also plans to gain a DPhil degree.

She is particularly interested in investigating how non-governmental organisations influence efforts to eradicate global poverty at a political level, including by influencing UN agencies.

Born in Lower Hutt, Miss Mylek has worked for Trade Aid and World Vision and also as a voluntary primary school teacher in Kenya.

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