A further 30 Black students are to receive a £20,000 per year scholarship to study at the University of Cambridge following a new philanthropic partnership between HSBC UK and the #Merky Foundation, the UK charity founded by British musician, Stormzy.
The scholarships will fund the tuition fees and maintenance costs (equivalent of £20,000 per student each year) for 10 new students each year over the next three years, for a degree course of either three or four years’ duration.
The combined support of HSBC UK, the #Merky Foundation and an anonymous donor means the University is set to welcome a total of 13 Stormzy Scholars in the autumn.
The move represents a significant expansion of The Stormzy Scholarship programme, launched in 2018, which to date, has supported six Black students through their Cambridge education.
In June 2020, Stormzy’s #Merky Foundation announced it would be donating £10 million over ten years to charities and other organisations committed to tackling racial inequality in the UK. HSBC UK’s donation is in addition to #Merky Foundation’s initial commitment, with the Foundation encouraging other companies to follow suit and join them in pledging.
The Stormzy Scholarships are credited with helping Cambridge to attract more applications from a traditionally underrepresented group. In 2017 the University admitted 58 Black British students to undergraduate degree courses. In 2020, this had risen to 137. This represented a 50% increase on the previous year and in turn was coined ‘The Stormzy Effect’.
Reproduced courtesy of the University of Cambridge