The Black Students' Support Fund

There currently exists an historic under-representation of Black British students at the University of Cambridge and Churchill College. Widening participation work in this area is being carried out at both a University and College level but more needs to be done.

Between 2020 and 2022, Home students declaring their ethnicity as Black or Black British – Caribbean, Black or Black British – African, or Other Black background, made up just 3.1% of total Home acceptances to Churchill, according to the University’s application statistics. The Black student population at Churchill College has increased to 4.5% (2021 – 2023) thanks to the widening participation work that is being carried out in this area at University and College levels. Thanks to your support of schemes such as the Black Students’ Support Fund and the ISLA Award at Churchill College, we can continue to strive towards 5% which would be representative of the national population aged 16-24 (as reported in the 2021 census, covering England and Wales). You can read more about the College’s Widening Participation work here.

Working harder to address this historic under-representation is an urgent priority. Our black students have formed an integral part of our student community, and have been great successes at Cambridge and beyond. Increasing the diversity of student intake will help ensure the contribution of insights from the widest range of backgrounds, heritages and standpoints.

The Black Students’ Support Fund

In order to optimise applications to Churchill from this under-represented group of students, the College is seeking to raise enough funds to set up an endowed fund of at least £100,000. This endowed fund will support UK students of Black African and African-Caribbean heritage by providing means-tested bursaries for undergraduates, as part of the Cambridge Bursary scheme, or an MPhil Studentship. Support may be awarded to both categories ie undergraduate bursaries and an MPhil Studentship, dependent on the level of income generated by the fund.

The Bursary or studentship will be open to all UK students of black African and African-Caribbean heritage at Churchill College. Undergraduate bursaries will be funded for up to four years, depending on the length of the course, and the MPhil studentship will be awarded on the basis of academic merit to students who otherwise would struggle to fund a Master’s degree and will normally be provided for one year.

Award-holders will also be invited to meet major supporters of this fund in the College at a social event, normally in the Lent term, on an annual or two-yearly basis.

Support for the initiative

Imani Jeffers (U15 MML)

It is so wonderful to hear about the launch of Churchill’s new means-tested Black Students’ Support Fund. I have always been proud and grateful to have been a Churchillian, as the College doesn’t just show its heart for inclusion in its words, but also does so in its actions, and this bursary is a perfect example of this. For me, the fund speaks to the College’s dedication to encouraging black and ethnic minority students to apply to study at a university where they may currently be under-represented but where the diversity of thought their diversity of background brings is so needed, and to spend their Cambridge years at a College where they will be most warmly welcomed.

Osarenkhoe Ogbeide (G18 – Current PhD student)

I am delighted to hear about Churchill College’s decision to start a Black British Student Support Fund. The bursaries that will stem from this fund serve two significant purposes. The first being financial support for Black British students who may find academic life difficult without it; the second and arguably more important purpose, is advertising and promotion of opportunities available at Cambridge for Black British students. Knowledge that a bursary for Black British students exists alone will inspire prospective students and encourage them to apply to Cambridge as it reflects that the university welcomes them. As one of the newer colleges and in line with the College’s commitment to tackling racism, I believe Churchill College is the perfect place to setup this kind of fund.

Our Widening Participation work

The College’s Widening Participation team is also working to address the issue of under-representation. You can read more about their work below:

Widening Participation Report

Churchill College carries out a huge amount of academic outreach work:

We help to widen access to Cambridge by engaging with a wide variety of schools and colleges, stimulating aspiration and encouraging applications.

We work specifically with schools in Surrey, Sussex, South Wales and the London boroughs of Croydon, Merton, and Sutton as part of the university’s area links scheme. Read more

We speak to KS4 (15-16 year old) students about A-level subject choices and why they matter for university applications.

We speak to Year 12 students about a making competitive applications

We demystify the application process and help prospective students make informed decisions about applications to competitive entry universities.

We assist prospective students’ access appropriate resources enabling them to read more widely, over and above school curricula.

Alongside this we have established a project for black students in Year 9 from Croydon (one of the College’s link areas). This project aims to ensure that academically able students will strongly consider going into sixth form and then work towards applying to selective entry universities. It is not designed to engage the most academically able pupils already on track for academic success. Rather, it aims to nurture pupils with the potential to succeed if mentored over time; candidates who would be unlikely to self-select for university mentoring schemes and other outreach opportunities.

The focus of the project is aspiration, leadership and community. We want pupils to be able to discuss what they believe to be barriers to, and opportunities for, leadership in the UK today and it will introduce pupils (directly and indirectly) to a variety of black leaders. The project will continue to be rolled out for pupils in subsequent years as they work towards their GCSEs. It is our hope that it will enable pupils to see themselves as the future of the UK, as active agents of change and as community leaders. We want pupils to be able to see how education empowers them to fulfil their potentials and also help them to access the best education available. Just before the national lockdown in 2020 we were pleased to welcome a visit from our first Year 9 cohort from Croydon schools.

Whilst face-to-face events are currently not possible, and whilst we are currently without a full time Widening Participation Officer, Churchill continues to engage virtually with students across all of our link areas. The quality of our links and our database has made it relatively easy to reach students even as learning to adapt to the new situation has been a steep learning curve. The College will be delighted, when visits to and from Cambridge become possible again, to engage once again in person with students and staff across our area links. This will include, in the academic year 2021-22, continuing to work with the original cohort of students from Croydon as they prepare for their GCSEs in Year 11, as well as engaging new students in Years 9 and 10 with the project.

The College is also aware that in educating the most intellectually able people we are equipping the next generation. Students will become the researchers and policy-makers of the future, urgently responding – dynamically, logically and creatively – to great global questions such as social justice and climate change.

It is with this mind that we continue to strive to widen participation and increase access to educational opportunity, whether at this University or at the many of the other excellent universities in this country and across the world.

Project

The Black Students’ Support Fund

There currently exists an historic under-representation of Black British students at the University of Cambridge and Churchill College. Widening participation work in this area is being carried out at both a University and College level but more needs to be done.

The Black Students’ Support Fund

Support for the initiative

Imani Jeffers (U15 MML)

Osarenkhoe Ogbeide (G18 – Current PhD student)

Related projects

Student Support Fund

07 Apr 2020

Graduate Studentship Endowment Fund

07 Apr 2020

Winston Churchill Top-Up Bursary Fund

07 Apr 2020

The Student Wellbeing & Mental Health Fund

15 Apr 2021

Our Widening Participation work