Just a few months after he launched his scholarship for black students hoping to attend Cambridge University, Stormzy has accused Oxford of rejecting his offer to fund the same grant for their students.
Speaking last night at the Barbican, where he was launching his book Rise Up: The #Merky Story So Far, Stormzy said that Oxford were patently uninterested in his offer to help them diversify their predominantly white, privileged student body. “We tried Oxford but they didn’t want to get involved,” he said.
The accusation are particularly disappointing when you consider the reputation Oxford (and Cambridge) have when it comes to admitting BAME students. Figures have shown that one in four Oxford colleges failed to admit a single black student between the years 2012 to 2016. Cambridge didn’t fare much better, with some of their colleges failing to admit any black students between 2015-2017.
As part of Stormzy’s current grant programme with Cambridge University, he will sponsor two students this year and two next year, covering the entirety of their fees and providing them with maintenance grants for the full four years of an undergraduate degree. Speaking at the Barbican he outlined his belief in underprivileged students to perform at the highest level academically.
“If you’re academically brilliant don’t think because you come from a certain community that studying at one of the highest education institutions in the world isn’t possible.”