The University of Oxford’s History Faculty and Somerville College have launched a new postgraduate scholarship for a UK BAME (black, Asian and minority ethnic) student.
The ‘Raj Tulsiani Scholarship’, for a taught Masters in History, will start from the next academic year (October 2020), thanks to funding from Green Park’s Co-founder and CEO, Raj Tulsiani.
Government statistics reveal that BAME students are currently under-represented on taught postgraduate History degrees at UK universities, accounting for just 9.3% of all students in the discipline, compared with 22% across all subjects. The University of Oxford hopes that this scholarship will encourage more students from BAME backgrounds to apply to study there.
INCREASING OPPORTUNITY
“The History Faculty is so pleased to be able to join Mr Tulsiani in supporting this scholarship, and we hope that it will encourage more talented students from BAME backgrounds to apply to us,” stated Professor John Watts, Chair of the Oxford History Faculty Board at the University of Oxford. “Ours is a broad Faculty, with a huge range of interests, and we want to be as equal and inclusive as we can be.”
Having the capability to support more diversity through this postgraduate scholarship, will ‘widen the gate for the brightest and the best BAME talent’, said Tulsiani. “It’s a step in the right direction and one that I’m very proud to have been able to take with Somerville. It may have been a long time since I lived above my family’s shop in West Croydon, but the lessons I learned growing up have impressed on me that while talent may be everywhere, opportunity is not. This scholarship is a part of my contribution to increasing opportunity.”
There are so many students seeking scholarships to do a one-year Master’s degree, “but it is exceptionally hard to get funding, especially in the humanities,” commented Jan Royall, Baroness of Blaisdon, Principal of Somerville College. “I am delighted that Somerville will host the first Raj Tulsiani scholar. I hope this scholarship will enrich our understanding of history and, in time, support the development of future black and ethnic minority academics.”
TRANSFORMING LEADERSHIP
Being involved in the creation of future leadership is nothing new for Tulsiani, who now has more than 20 years of experience in transforming leadership recruitment under his belt. “It’s a pleasure to be involved in the creation of future leadership. Oxford has done this through education for many years and, for 13 years Green Park has been placing diverse senior talent in leadership positions across the public, private and third sectors,” explained Tulsiani.
This year, Tulsiani’s executive recruitment and diversity consultancy has placed a diverse leader on a board every eight days. “By 2025, I want to make that a diverse person on a board every single day. For that we need a strong and diverse leadership pipeline that will become the robust, inclusive and representative board of tomorrow,” he added.
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