- UK grime artist Stormzy has just announced the Stormzy Scholarship.
- With the help of YouTube Music, he will fund two black students to go to Cambridge University this year, and two more in 2019.
- There is a chronic under-representation of black students at the UK’s top universities.
- It comes down to a number of factors, including a lack of support in applying, the fear of not fitting in, huge competition for places on certain courses, and racism.
Grime artist Stormzy has just announced he will fund two black students this year and two in 2019 to go to Cambridge University, which is currently ranked the 2nd best university in the UK, and the 6th in the world.
The Stormzy Scholarship will pay for tuition fees and money the same value as a maintenance grant for up to four years on an undergraduate course at the university.
“It’s so important for black students, especially, to be aware that it can 100% be an option to attend a university of this calibre,” the rapper said.
Stormzy will fund one student per year himself, and the rest of the funds will come from YouTube Music.
Both Cambridge and Oxford — the top two universities in the UK — haven’t got the best reputation for giving places to students of colour.
A Business Insider investigation found that the number of black students applying for, receiving offers from, and attending Oxford and Cambridge universities is chronically low. Only 40 black students were accepted out of 2,210 placed UK applicants to Cambridge in 2016. And only 35 black students were accepted out of 2,210 placed UK applicants to Oxford.