PWC to allow white students to apply for internships

PWC HAS scrapped eligibility criteria blocking white students applying for internships in the US after it became embroiled in a discrimination row.

The “big four” accountant, which employs 46,000 people in the US, has removed race-based restrictions on an internship and fellowship schemes designed to help students prepare for their accounting exams. The initiatives were only open to applications from ethnic minority students, disabled people or former veterans, as part of Pwc’s efforts to boost diversity in its US offices, the Financial Times reported.

The professional services firm is the latest US employer to remove diversity criteria on internships for its scholarship programmes after the US Supreme Court last year banned race-based university admissions. The Supreme Court, dominated by conservative-leaning judges, ruled that US universities can no longer consider an applicant’s race during the admission process.

The ban has since led to employers removing diversity criteria on scholarships to avoid unlawfully excluding people based on their race. PWC is now applying “rigour” to its diversity and inclusion efforts in the US following the Supreme Court’s decision, according to its latest diversity and inclusion report.

The report also dropped Pwc’s promise to award 40pc of its procurement budget to minority-owned suppliers.

It follows similar recruitment steps taken by US law firm Morrison & Foerster and Covid vaccine maker Pfizer.

Yolanda Seals-coffield, chief people officer of PWC US, told the Financial

Times: “Our commitment to cultivating an environment where all our professionals can thrive hasn’t changed.

“How we get there may face a few hurdles that it didn’t a year ago.”

‘Our commitment to cultivating an environment where all our professionals can thrive hasn’t changed’