KEARSNEY College Old Boy, Dr Murray Polkinghorne (26), who has graduated with distinction as the top scholar of his Master’s class at Cambridge University, credits the world class education he received in South Africa as having prepared him to excel in this famous university’s rigorous academic environment.
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After matriculating from Kearsney in 2011 with eight distinctions, Polkinghorne studied medicine at the University of Cape Town where he graduated cum laude and completed a research fellowship at the Mayo Clinic in America.
He was subsequently awarded a scholarship to Cambridge to do an MPhil in Translational Biomedical Research and in October graduated with distinction, coming first in the class. This led to him recently being awarded a further scholarship to study for a doctorate in medical sciences at Oxford.
“My biggest impression of studying abroad is how globalised it is compared to my earlier experiences. You get to meet so many different people from all over the world, with such a diversity of experience that it can’t help but influence the way you think and challenge your opinions – which I’ve found wonderfully refreshing.
“That being said, I’ve found that my education at Kearsney and UCT have more than prepared me for the United Kingdom’s academic environment which is testament to the world-class education I’ve been so lucky to have had in South Africa,” he said.
Since starting at Oxford last month, he has been enjoying running in the adjacent countryside, being involved in college rowing and is looking forward to the thriving arts scene in Oxford.
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At school he was head of Kearsney’s internationally-acclaimed choir and won gold with the choir at the World Choir Games in Shaoxing, China.
He is a fourth generation Polkinghorne to go through Kearsney. His father, David, was awarded the Major Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford in 1986.
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