British-Ghanaian rapper Stormzy, real name Michael Ebenazer Kwadjo Omari Owuo Jr. has launched a scholarship scheme to fund tuition fees for two black students to go to the University of Cambridge this year.
He will also pay for two more students in 2019 including the provision of a maintenance grant for up to four years of an undergraduate course, says the rapper who made the big announcement at his old school Harris City Academy in south London.
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The scheme launched on the day A-level results were released comes months after the prestigious university was criticized for not admitting minority students, especially from the black race.
“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,” the 25-year-old rapper who hasn’t attended university himself said.
“In school and college, I had the ability and was almost destined to go to one of the top universities. 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,” he is quoted by the BBC.
“We’re going to have young black students who are academically brilliant and smashing it, and they should just have that opportunity to walk into a university like Cambridge,” he added.
The application deadline is August 30 and to be eligible, you have to be black and have an offer to study at Cambridge. A university panel will select the students from a list of applicants.
