The Student Room Group

Stormzy launches Cambridge scholarships for black students

Scroll to see replies

Reply 40
Original post by Just my opinion
Sounds fair enough.
As young working class white men are at the bottom of the pile for Uni entry I assume some white artist can safely come forward and set up a scholarship for white youths?


The Banksy Bursary.

(Although I have no idea if he's white working class.)

Posted from TSR Mobile
I don't mean to be racist whatsoever, but I have a few concerns. Being a person of colour doesn't guarantee that you will struggle to get into university (trust me, I have coloured friends who don't feel hindered by their ethnicity.) This is just as being white doesn't guarantee an easier time. Wouldn't a better idea be to leave race ambiguous during the selection process, and then use public campaigns to tackle the issue of some coloured students feeling unable to achieve? My concern here is that it outright gives some students options not available to others due to something as benign as ethnicity.
Reply 42
Original post by hannahS653
I don't mean to be racist whatsoever, but I have a few concerns. Being a person of colour doesn't guarantee that you will struggle to get into university (trust me, I have coloured friends who don't feel hindered by their ethnicity.) This is just as being white doesn't guarantee an easier time. Wouldn't a better idea be to leave race ambiguous during the selection process, and then use public campaigns to tackle the issue of some coloured students feeling unable to achieve? My concern here is that it outright gives some students options not available to others due to something as benign as ethnicity.


It is "ambiguous" already. The scholarship is only available to someone who has already been accepted to the university.

A candidate's ethnicity is only tracked for stats purposes. It's not a consideration for the actual admissions decisions.

Posted from TSR Mobile
Original post by Doonesbury
The Banksy Bursary.

(Although I have no idea if he's white working class.)

Posted from TSR Mobile



iirc Banksy is an upper class Eskimo :h:
Reply 44
Original post by Doonesbury
To qualify for the scholarship you need to have been assessed as eligible for the full maintenance loan. ie. a "poor one".

In addition they will also get the full Cambridge Bursary.

https://www.undergraduate.study.cam.ac.uk/stormzy-scholarship


is that poor or is that less privileged? i think you and i might have different standards.

regardless, from skimming your other comments i think we're largely in agreement, except i still think this won't be an incentive for poor kids to apply to Cambridge. applying in itself takes a certain mentality that most poor kids don't' have and i don't think the average poor kid would work hard at A levels because s/he honestly thought s/he might win 1 of 2 scholarships. that's like wagering your life on winning the lottey. imho you're either the type of person who would apply to Cambridge, or you're not. this scholarship is more like a present to kids who would have applied to Cambridge anyway.
I don't understand why some people are so against it? These black students still need to achieve the grades stated on their offer which would be minimum A*AA?
(edited 5 years ago)
Reply 46
Original post by Joleee
is that poor or is that less privileged? i think you and i might have different standards.


To qualify for a full maintenance loan you need a total *gross* household income (£25k) below the average *net* disposable income (£27k). And you are therefore probably "less privileged" as well as relatively poor.

But I do agree the "intervention" really needs to start earlier in the education process, probably when GCSEs are being first considered, not after acceptance to university. :yy:
Original post by xuwicizuw
Racism at its finest.

It’s really not. Scholarships like this already exist.
Original post by Just my opinion
Sounds fair enough.
As young working class white men are at the bottom of the pile for Uni entry I assume some white artist can safely come forward and set up a scholarship for white youths?

Of course.
Original post by hannahS653
I don't mean to be racist whatsoever, but I have a few concerns. Being a person of colour doesn't guarantee that you will struggle to get into university (trust me, I have coloured friends who don't feel hindered by their ethnicity.) This is just as being white doesn't guarantee an easier time. Wouldn't a better idea be to leave race ambiguous during the selection process, and then use public campaigns to tackle the issue of some coloured students feeling unable to achieve? My concern here is that it outright gives some students options not available to others due to something as benign as ethnicity.

Race is already excluded from the selection processs.
Original post by tripplea
I don't understand why some people are so against it? These black students still need to achieve the grades stated on their offer which would be minimum A*AA?


Because students are literally getting money for being black. It's wrong to offer people money in a racially discriminatory way just so there will be more people of a certain race at a university. There might be no ill intent, but it's still racism.
Original post by Dandaman1
Because students are literally getting money for being black. It's wrong to offer people money in a racially discriminatory way just so there will be more people of a certain race at a university. There might be no ill intent, but it's still racism.


They are not getting money “for being black” - being of black African/Caribbean or other heritage is just one of the criteria, they also have to show they will receive full financial support from Student finance hence only open to home students and implying that they are from a low economic background aswell.

There won’t be more people of a certain race either, maybe more underrepresented groups applying to elite universities like Cambridge but as I stated before, they still need to obtain the high grades (min A*AA) grades to even be eligible for this funding in the first place so it won’t make a difference to the cohort of black students admitted into Cambridge for that particular year. The stormzy scholarship is only awarded to 2 black students that are already Cambridge students anyway. The application process for Cambridge will still be the same for the next cohort of students so even if double or triple the amount of black students apply, Cambridge can still decide to reject them all anyway if they so wish because it still comes back to whether the students will be able to achieve the academic requirements required at Cambridge.
Original post by tripplea
They are not getting money “for being black” - being of black African/Caribbean or other heritage is just one of the criteria, they also have to show they will receive full financial support from Student finance hence only open to home students and implying that they are from a low economic background aswell.

There won’t be more people of a certain race either, maybe more underrepresented groups applying to elite universities like Cambridge but as I stated before, they still need to obtain the high grades (min A*AA) grades to even be eligible for this funding in the first place so it won’t make a difference to the cohort of black students admitted into Cambridge for that particular year. The stormzy scholarship is only awarded to 2 black students that are already Cambridge students anyway. The application process for Cambridge will still be the same for the next cohort of students so even if double or triple the amount of black students apply, Cambridge can still decide to reject them all anyway if they so wish because it still comes back to whether the students will be able to achieve the academic requirements required at Cambridge.

But they are. The scholarship is only open to black people. Being black is a key qualifying criterion for the award.

Stormzy intends to encourage more black students to apply to Cambridge and he implies there are currently too few. Ergo, he wants to see more black students studying at Cambridge and he hopes his racially discriminatory scholarship will help with that. Both his intent and his method are racist, even though he is well-meaning. The scholarship is ethically flawed.
(edited 5 years ago)
Original post by Dandaman1
But they are. The scholarship is only open to black people. Being black is a key qualifying criterion for the award.

Stormzy intends to encourage more black students to apply to Cambridge and he implies there are currently too few. Ergo, he wants to see more black students studying at Cambridge and he hopes his racially discriminatory scholarship will help with that. Both his intent and his method are racist, even though he may have good intentions. The scholarship is ethically flawed.


I understand what you mean but if it was that bad I don’t think the University of Cambridge would have accepted this scholarship scheme proposal in the first place. The university themselves have stated that they too want to see more black students applying to the university so are they racist too?
Why not have scholarships open for people of all races from disadvantage, poor working class backgrounds?
Original post by crazychameleon
Well if this will encourage academically capable black students to apply who otherwise wouldn't due to the stereotype Oxbridge has, I don't see the problem. It isn't a quota or positive discrimination by any means. It's a scholarship, something that doesn't guarantee an offer. Due to the fact it's Stormzy, the scholarship will receive far more promotion than any of the other bursaries colleges and other organisations may offer e.g. Sutton trust for American universities.

What "stereotype" does Oxbridge have? Students from all walks of life go to Oxbridge so I don't see what the problem is? If you're not smart enough to get into those universities then you shouldn't be there. Those universities also require you to work your fingers to the bone, and if you can't work hard enough to get the good grades to get in there, then you will not survive the culture at Oxbridge. This is just black people playing the race card because they think they're being discriminated against when it's all their own fault. Indians and Asians do just fine so why can't black people? They aren't any more disadvantaged than any other race in the UK.
I genuinely don't see the problem - personally as a care leaver I'll get a bursary at most unis and a complete fee waiver at some. I'm not poor, I wouldn't struggle to get into university otherwise, and people don't have a problem with that... but when it comes to race everyone kicks off.

Nothing is being taken away from white students, this doesn't make it harder for them to get into university, it's fine.
Original post by tripplea
I understand what you mean but if it was that bad I don’t think the University of Cambridge would have accepted this scholarship scheme proposal in the first place. The university themselves have stated that they too want to see more black students applying to the university so are they racist too?

The university accepting it and wanting more black students has no bearing on the ethics of it. Universities all over the world have supported discriminatory practices. That doesn't make it right.

Again, their intentions might be innocent, and they might see themselves as doing something good, but the scholarship (and even they fact the simply want more black people) is ethically flawed. Like I said in my first post, it's paradoxically racist.
Original post by nulli tertius
The highlighted words are the key.


Well given that my quick google search this morning turned up no numbers relating specifically to the percentage of the student body that is black what reason is there to believe they are underrepresented?
Original post by pinegrove
I genuinely don't see the problem - personally as a care leaver I'll get a bursary at most unis and a complete fee waiver at some. I'm not poor, I wouldn't struggle to get into university otherwise, and people don't have a problem with that... but when it comes to race everyone kicks off.

Nothing is being taken away from white students, this doesn't make it harder for them to get into university, it's fine.


Because 80% of Oxbridge applicants who received offers come from the top two socio-economic groups in society, it isn't a issue of race but class, so why only direct a scholarship scheme at a certain racial group?
Original post by Underscore__
Well given that my quick google search this morning turned up no numbers relating specifically to the percentage of the student body that is black what reason is there to believe they are underrepresented?


https://www.ft.com/content/9dcd7d0a-65b3-11e8-a39d-4df188287fff

Quick Reply

Latest