Update (October 18, 2019): There are more Black Britons at Cambridge University thanks to the efforts of Stormzy.
The university admitted almost 50% more Black students in 2019, according to Guardian. Cambridge officials credited the "Stormzy Effect" with "an increase in the number of black students engage in its outreach activities and enquire about its courses." Cambridge admitted 91 Black students at the top of the school year, 30 more than last year. Thanks to the increase, students of color make up 27% of new admissions. For the first time, the number of Black students at the institution surpassed 200.
In November 2018, the "Vossi Bop" rapper announced his intentions to start scholarships for Black students at Cambridge and Oxford Universities. The latter refused his offer, but Cambridge accepted. Stormzy began with two awards. In August, the program expanded when he announced he would pay tuition and housing fees for two more students.
Cambridge is also doing its part to connect with students of color. Graham Virgo, senior pro-vice-chancellor of education, claimed the admissions staff hosted "various outreach activities and the positive campaigns run by our student societies and external partners."
"The university has worked hard to get the message out that it is a welcoming place for students regardless of their ethnicity," Virgo said. "This record rise in the number of Black students is a credit to their hard work and ability: we have not lowered entry standards."
Black students and alums are experiencing the benefits of the "Stormzy Effect."
"By the time I was in third year there were a lot more black freshers starting," 2018 graduate Peter Fashola told the BBC. "I go on social media platforms now and see so many black people in a room in Cambridge, and I think 'is that our Cambridge?' It's different now."
"Each year we've seen a steady rise in the community, so we're on the right tracks," said senior Joseph Adiwku.
Stormzy also added a layer of cool to the institution.
"People come to me and they're like 'wow' you went to Cambridge — not the place where prime ministers go, but the place Stormzy relates with," Fashola added.
Original story (August 17, 2018): Between 2012 and 2016, Cambridge University colleges admitted as few as one or even no black students – a gross rate that 25-year-old English rapper Stormzy hopes to change by funding two full scholarships for black students to attend the prestigious university.
“We are still under-represented at leading universities,” Stormzy said in a statement. “I hope this scholarship serves as a small reminder that if young black students wish to study at one of the best universities in the world, then the opportunity is yours for the taking.”
While in school, Stormzy recalls his intelligence being celebrated and him being encouraged to seek higher education at schools like Oxford and Cambridge. He had hoped to attend Oxford before his musical career picked up, leading him down a different path, The Guardian reports. But such ardent support, Stormzy recognizes, is not always present in the lives of students from low-income backgrounds.
“If you’re academically brilliant, don’t think because you come from a certain community that studying at one of the highest [educational] institutions in the world isn’t possible,” Stormzy said during an interview on BBC Breakfast, The Guardian reports. “When students are young, academically brilliant and getting great grades, they should know that’s an option.”
To apply, applicants must be black and have received acceptance into Cambridge University and submit their application by the August 30 deadline. The two students chosen will be selected by a panel consisting of university staff.
“The studentships are a beacon for black students who might otherwise have felt they could not come to Cambridge,” the University of Cambridge's vice-chancellor, professor Stephen Toope, said on the university’s website. “Last year, 58 new black students arrived to take up their courses at Cambridge, the largest number ever but not nearly as many as we would like. We know we need to work harder to ensure that black students not only apply to study at the university but that they feel at home here and achieve their full potential.”
Stormzy will be funding two of the same scholarships for Cambridge next year, as well.
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