The 1996 Rhodes Scholarship for the Canadian province of British Columbia has been presented to Rouzbeh Pirouz, a second-year student in the masters in public policy program at the Kennedy School of Government.

Pirouz plans to pursue a doctorate in international relations and international law while at Oxford. He said that he will focus on the changing role of international organizations.

"I think that we're living in a time when the pace of change is very fast," Pirouz said. "The large international organizations of the world have not necessarily done a good job of changing fast enough to keep up with the times."

After completing his studies at Oxford, Pirouz says he plans to return to Canada and work in a diplomatic context, possibly dealing with international organizations, he said.

The 23-year-old received a bachelor's degree in international relations from Stanford University.

He is currently working on a project for the Bronfman Foundation of Montreal examining how Israel can help Palestinians to develop civil service institutions to better serve both of their interests. The project is a part of the policy analysis exercise for second year students in the Kennedy School.

Pirouz has actively participated in a number of volunteer agencies, including the Disability Resource Center, the Stanford Homelessness Action Coalition and ABLE, an agency promoting the integration of disabled students into regular schools.

He is scheduled to graduate from the Kennedy School in June 1996 and begin studying at Oxford in October.

The Rhodes provides full tuition and travel expenses for two years of study at Oxford University, with the option of a third year