A new endowment fund of nearly £4.8 million has been launched to improve the access to employability opportunities for underserved, low income and black and minority ethnic (BME) university students in the UK.
The fund started by JPMorgan Chase and the Sutton Trust on Thursday(25) plans to help 350 students in the next ten years, a statement said.
It will provide students with bursaries to help finance opportunities like internships, study abroad, volunteering experiences, additional courses or training, and essential living costs – including accommodation, subsistence and study materials.
The Sutton Trust will build a pipeline of diverse talent for in-demand jobs leading to well-paying career pathways. Around 60 per cent of the bursaries will be targeted at BME students, the statement added.
According to the new research by the Trust, the number of students not taking part in work experience or studying abroad was up by more than half, from 23 per cent pre-pandemic to 37 per cent.
Besides, around 64 per cent of students from working-class backgrounds said they were living at home this term, and have been consequently locked out of a full university experience and all the enrichment and growth opportunities it presents.
Viswas Raghavan, CEO of J P Morgan in EMEA, said: “The Covid-19 pandemic has further exacerbated historic inequities and structural barriers to opportunity for young people from low income backgrounds – especially black and other ethnic minority groups. Good jobs are key to social mobility and improving the employability of disadvantaged students is an important first step towards a promising, sustainable and well paid career.”
The new bursary fund aims to help mitigate the gap in employability outcomes, between students who have access to activities, experiences and courses and those who do not.
The application process for the bursaries will start this summer and cover students’ participation in a wide range of activities and events beyond their core academic course. Bursaries will be offered in every academic year.
Sir Peter Lampl, founder and chairman of the Sutton Trust and chairman of the Education Endowment Foundation, said: “Through our new partnership with JPMorgan Chase we will be able to offer support to hundreds of Sutton Trust alumni in the decade to come. This will enable them to take part in truly life-changing experiences which will build important skills such as communication, resilience, confidence, motivation and leadership; skills which previous Sutton Trust research has shown are highly valued by employers.”
The endowment will be administered by the Sutton Trust and managed at no cost by J P Morgan Private Bank, with the goal of creating a lasting endowment of at least 20 years.
JPMorgan Chase also announced a £30,000 commitment to Amos Bursary to help boost the employability of students of African-Caribbean heritage through bursaries to fund enrichment activities.
This new initiative follows a $30 billion commitment by JPMorgan Chase to advance racial equity through its expertise in business, policy and philanthropy, the statement added.
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