Stormzy to fund Cambridge scholarships for two black students

The grime MC has announced that he’ll be launching a scholarship scheme to help black students attend undergraduate courses at the University of Cambridge

Called Stormzy Scholarships, the artist will pay the tuition fees for two black students and provide them both with maintenance grants for up to four years. Two more students will be selected for the scholarship in 2019.

I am very very very proud to announce the launch of my new scholarship “The Stormzy Scholarship” in partnership with Cambridge University. With this scholarship we will be funding and covering the full tuition and maintenance for 2 black students this year and 2 black students in 2019 to study at Cambridge University. We as a minority are still heavily under represented at the top universities and I pray this scholarship serves as a reminder that we are more than capable of studying at places of this caliber. Congratulations to all the A-Level students getting their results today, be proud of yourselves despite what you got and overstand that this is only the tip of the iceberg for what’s to come! This is my proudest venture thus far and I look forward to seeing some young black geniuses go on to achieve at Cambridge via this scholarship. @cambridgeuniversity www.cam.ac.uk/stormzyscholarship for all info. Applications close on Thursday 30th August! #StormzyScholarship ❤️🙏🏿💪🏿

A post shared by Gang Signs & Prayer (@stormzyofficial) on Aug 16, 2018 at 2:18am PDT

The announcement was made at his old school, Harris Academy in Crystal Waters, today (16 August), which marks the day that UK students receive their A Level results. On his decision to fund the courses he said, “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.”

“In school and college I had the ability and was almost destined to go to one of the top universities,” he told Radio 1 Newsbeat. “But that didn’t happen for myself… so hopefully there’s another young black student out there that can have that opportunity through my scholarship.”

In 2016, as a guest speaker at the Oxford University Guild, he said, “It was my dream to come to Oxford and study political science.”

The deadline for applications is 30 August and the 2019 scheme can be applied for via the UCAS system in October. Requirements include an offer from Cambridge.

The University has been criticised for its lack of black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) students. In a report by Financial Times, it was revealed that between 2012 and 2016, several Cambridge colleges admitted no black students and six admitted less than 10 black and mixed race students. Earlier this year, the University said it needed more support from schools to help increase its numbers of BAME students.