Chelsea footballer Raheem Sterling is kicking off a university scholarship to help black students in the UK. Coming next year, it will be in place at two universities.
Once again doing his part to help improve society, the Raheem Sterling scholarship will fund 14 black students to attend university starting in 2023/2024. Working with his foundation, the footballer hopes it to be a “real game-changer.”
Raheem Stirling Scholarship Will Help Black Students
Coming into play in September, the funding will help financially support 14 black students attending university. Students will have the choice of Manchester University or King’s College London.
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The plan is for the scheme to help improve “social mobility.” Largely, it will improve the number of black students in higher education in the UK.
Speaking of the scholarship, Sterling said: “I hope this initiative will be a real game changer over the next few years and I am delighted to be working with two of the finest universities in the world.”
The sports star plans to meet all recipients at both campuses once the academic year begins.
Adding to the footballer’s words, the chair of trustees at the Raheem Sterling Foundation shared the importance of education for all:
“We believe that access to better education and employment opportunities should be made fair to all young people regardless of financial circumstances and background.”
Highling that this is all the work of Raheem, he went on to say: “work we do is in pursuit of improving their opportunities, future careers and quality of life and we won’t rest until we succeed in Raheem’s vision of achieving this.”
Low Percentage Of Black Students Attending University
Released Government data shows that in the 2019/20 academic year, only 8.7 per cent of undergraduates were black. Unfortunately, this hadn’t improved a couple of years later. King’s College found that only 5 per cent of students at Russell Group universities were black. This clearly shows a problem that needs to be addressed, not just by celebrity funding.
The Raheem Sterling scholarship joins others such as the Virgil Abloh scholarship, which helps black students at the Royal College of Arts. Their aims are to get more disadvantaged students into education, despite their backgrounds and financial circumstances.
Beginning later this year, the first four recipients of the Raheem Sterling scholarship will start university.
In 2021, the footballer visited his old school at the launch of his foundation, which is education focused. Looking specifically at London, Manchester and Jamaica, Sterling wants educational opportunities at all. The launch of this scholarship is certainly a step in the right direction to help improve this.
