The Daily Telegraph

Minister wants ‘elite’ Fulbright programme to help minorities

- By Camilla Turner EDUCATION EDITOR

THE Fulbright Commission must do more to attract students from ethnic minorities and disadvanta­ged background­s, says the universiti­es minister.

Sam Gyimah said the Fulbright scholarshi­p, which pays for British students to enrol at top US institutio­ns such as Harvard or Yale and for Americans to study in the UK, has previously been seen as an “elite programme”.

But he said the scholarshi­ps should not be “limited to the privileged and well-off in society”, but “open to all and particular­ly disadvanta­ged students”.

At a 70th anniversar­y celebratio­n for the Commission at the House of Commons, Mr Gyimah announced that Government funding for the Fulbright programme will rise by £400,000 to £1million for next year. He said the extra money should be used to enable students from deprived background­s to “benefit from what has historical­ly been perceived as an elite programme”.

His interventi­on comes as British universiti­es face growing pressure to boost diversity in their intakes, with regulators warning that those who miss new “tougher” targets could be fined or even de-registered.

The number of privately educated British pupils going to American universiti­es has risen by a fifth in three years, as the wealthiest families seek to give their children an advantage.

But Mr Gyimah said that studying in the US should be often to all. He added: “We have an education system where, for the super-rich, the world is their playground.

“There are huge advantages that come from that exposure. Allowing disadvanta­ged, bright and able students to have that sort of exposure can only be a good thing for our country.”

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