Project Educate partners with the University of Oxford to create new opportunities for Black talent in the UK

Project Educate is delighted to announce a new partnership with the University of Oxford to fund full scholarships for Black students resident in the UK undertaking Master’s and PhD study through Oxford’s Black Academic Futures programme.

Black Academic Futures is part of Oxford’s wider work to address the under-representation of students in graduate education. Through this partnership, Project Educate will support talented Black British students to access postgraduate study at Oxford, helping to remove financial barriers and create greater opportunities for academic and professional progression.

Why this matters

Talent is everywhere, but opportunity is not.

Across the UK, significant racial and socioeconomic inequalities continue to shape educational, economic and professional opportunities. Around 40% of people in households headed by someone from a Black African background and nearly a third (32%) of people in Black Caribbean households live in poverty, compared with 18% of people in White households, according to the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.

These inequalities are compounded by substantial differences in household wealth. Previous analysis by the Office for National Statistics found median household wealth (defined here as assets such as property, savings and pensions, minus its debts) ranging from around £39,600 for households headed by someone from a Black African background to £321,100 for households headed by someone from a White British background.

The Runnymede Trust has also reported that Black people are 2.2 times more likely to experience deep poverty than White people.

For talented students, these inequalities can have a direct impact on what opportunities feel possible. The cost of postgraduate study, including tuition fees, accommodation and living expenses, can represent a significant barrier, even for students with the academic ability and ambition to study at an institution like Oxford.

Creating opportunity through education

Financial circumstances should never prevent talented students from pursuing their ambitions. This is where our partnership with Oxford can make a meaningful difference. Over a five-year period, Project Educate’s support will go towards fully funding scholarships covering course fees and living costs, giving scholars the financial security they need to focus on their studies and make the most of their time at Oxford.

By investing in Black students at postgraduate level, we want to support talented individuals at a pivotal stage of their academic and professional journeys. We also hope to contribute to greater representation within academia and to create opportunities for Black talent to progress and make an impact across the wider professional community.

For us, this partnership is about more than funding a degree. It is about helping to remove a barrier at a critical point in a student's journey and opening the door to opportunities that might otherwise remain out of reach.

Partnering for Impact

Professor David Gavaghan, Chair of Graduate Access Sub-committee at the University of Oxford, said:

“We are delighted to be partnering with Project Educate on supporting Black British students through our Academic Futures scholarship programme. Academic Futures is a crucial part of the University’s work to increase academic excellence by widening opportunities for exceptional students from every background. Launched in 2020, Academic Futures has grown from a handful of students to over 100 new scholars starting this year. None of this would be possible without the generosity of partners such as Project Educate, whose financial support is pooled with our own funding so that we can continue to offer more scholarships each year. Our heartfelt thanks to Seema and the team at Project Educate.”

Seema Sodhi-Kaempfer, Founder and CEO of Project Educate, said:

“Targeted scholarships like these are critical to creating genuine opportunities for Black students to enter and progress through higher education and ultimately increase representation in academia and the professional world. Project Educate is pleased to partner with the University of Oxford, precisely because of its dedicated focus on removing barriers for Black postgraduate students resident in the UK. I look forward to seeing the impact this partnership will make.”

This partnership represents an important step in Project Educate’s wider commitment to expanding access to educational opportunity and supporting talented individuals to realise their potential. We look forward to seeing what the Project Educate scholars go on to achieve and to the contribution they will make to their communities, their professions and wider society.