White working-class students excluded from Oxbridge diversity scholarships
Albert Tait
Tue, June 30, 2026, The Telegraph (UK)
White working-class students are excluded from almost all Oxbridge diversity scholarships, analysis by The Telegraph has found.
More than a dozen scholarships, bursaries and financial aid schemes are available to Oxford and Cambridge university students, prioritising their ethnicity over their socio-economic backgrounds.
While all the schemes can be used by students from black, Asian, and minority ethnic (BAME) backgrounds, they almost entirely exclude white working-class students, who are one of the most under-represented groups in higher education.
The universities have been accused of having a “two-tier academic society” after an inquiry report, published on Monday, found that white working-class children were some of the most disadvantaged and underachieving in English schools.
Suella Braverman, Reform UK’s education spokesman, said: “Because of the Equality Act, white working-class families have been betrayed by a system that is designed to work against them, and this is yet another example of two-tier academic society that punishes white working class boys and girls because of who they are.
“If Oxford and Cambridge want to live up to their proud history of meritocracy, they should end these racially discriminatory programmes immediately and judge people on their talents, not their skin colour.”
The revelation is the latest case of companies and public bodies running diversity schemes that exclude white people.
Recent examples include internships run by Britain’s intelligence services and the Bank of England, as well as taxpayer-funded employment schemes.
Under the Equality Act 2010, companies and public bodies are permitted to take “positive action” to “address disadvantage or under-representation”.
Writing for The Telegraph, a 20-year-old white student from a working-class family said such schemes had left him disadvantaged in both his education and employment, and feeling like a “second-class citizen”.
The student, who wished to remain anonymous, said he was forced to turn down a place at a leading university because he was excluded “on grounds of ethnicity” from financial schemes that would have supported his accommodation and living costs.
He said the “discrimination continues” with BAME-targeted training schemes, internships and placements run by GCHQ, MI5 and MI6, the Big Four accounting firms – Deloitte, Ernst & Young, KPMG, and PwC – the Bar Council, the Greater London Authority and the Royal Society.
According to analysis by The Telegraph, 27.7 per cent of the university bursaries and scholarships advertised on the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (Ucas) website are specifically for international students or non-white individuals.
Across the UK, 19 separate universities and higher education institutions had bursary or scholarship schemes specifically targeting BAME students. Some 11 had schemes specifically for asylum seekers and refugees.
At Oxford and Cambridge, The Telegraph identified at least 15 scholarships, bursaries or financial aid schemes targeting undergraduate, master’s and PhD students from a BAME background.
They include Cambridge’s Stormzy Scholarship, launched in 2018 and funded by the rapper’s #Merky Foundation and HSBC UK, which is awarded to up to 10 black UK students each year.
Successful applicants receive £20,000 a year for the length of their undergraduate course.
Cambridge also has a £20,000-a-year Formula 1 scholarship, which supports BAME students or female students studying engineering. The university also has at least six BAME-specific schemes for PhD and master’s students.
At Oxford, black and mixed-black students are eligible for the Black Academic Futures scholarship, which can cover the full cost of their course and provide them with a grant for living costs. Similar schemes are available to British Bangladeshi and British Pakistani students.
Black and mixed-black students studying for an MBA at the university’s Saïd Business School are eligible for the Oxford Black Leaders Scholarship of up to £30,000.
Since 2022, University College Oxford has offered 10 undergraduate bursaries per year under its Univ Beacon Programme for BAME students, refugees, asylum seekers, students who have spent time in care, and members of the Gypsy, Roma and traveller communities.
The college also offers two studentships – a type of funding package – for postgraduates of black or mixed-black ethnicity, covering their full fees and maintenance, while Jesus College Oxford offers a studentship to postgraduates of black or mixed-black ethnicity, in partnership with the university’s School of Geography and the Environment.
Of all the Oxbridge diversity schemes, white working-class women are seemingly eligible for only two, while white working-class men are eligible for only one.
Between them, the universities also have at least 15 outreach programmes for BAME students, ranging from taster days and webinars to overnight residentials at colleges.
BAME students significantly outnumber those from white working-class backgrounds at Oxbridge.
Although the number of white working-class students cannot be derived from yearly admissions figures, a 2019 report by the National Education Opportunities Network found they made up less than 3 per cent of Oxbridge students.
In comparison, 30 per cent of home students admitted to Oxford last year, and 34 per cent admitted to Cambridge in 2023 identified as BAME.
In 2016, Theresa May, then the prime minister, highlighted the plight of white working-class boys in higher education, saying they were “less likely than anybody else in Britain to go to university”.
In recent years, Manchester Metropolitan University has started to offer a scholarship specifically for white working-class men.
Laura Trott, the shadow education secretary, said: “We need to end the endless stream of scholarships and financial aid schemes reserved for BAME students.
“It’s time to move beyond identity-based preferences. Support should be focused on the most disadvantaged, regardless of their race or ethnicity, not to satisfy DEI [diversity, equity and inclusion] targets or quotas.”
Her criticism followed the publication of the report on the Inquiry into White Working Class Educational Outcomes on Monday, which concluded that the education system was “not set up to serve white working-class children and families”.
It found that white British pupils on free school meals were half as likely to pass their English and maths GCSEs as pupils not receiving free meals, showing a “white working class disadvantage gap”.
The inquiry, backed by Bridget Phillipson, the Education Secretary, found pupils were disengaging from an education system that was too focused on academic progression instead of vocational alternatives.
It recommended a “massive” expansion in apprenticeships, free local public transport for all under-21s and endorsed banning smartphones in schools.
A University of Oxford spokesman said: ‘We are committed to ensuring all students with the potential to study at Oxford are not prevented from doing so by their financial circumstances or background.
“Our undergraduate financial support package is provided on the basis of household income, regardless of ethnicity. We have expanded our schemes in recent years so that around one in four of our UK undergraduates, including many students from white working-class backgrounds, now receive University financial support, with £10.4m provided in total in 2025-26.”
A University of Cambridge spokesman said: “Cambridge provides one of the most generous bursary support packages in the UK. More than £10m of funding is available every year through the Cambridge Bursary Scheme to all students from low-income households. The University abides by the terms of the 2010 Equality Act.”