Worldwide innovations in university education to be explored by winners of prestigious Churchill Fellowships

On 7 March, two prestigious Churchill Fellowships will be announced for UK citizens to travel the world and research new ideas for issues affecting university education.

The award winners and their projects are:

• Widening access to higher education: Angela Nartey, an education policy worker from Croydon, will travel to the USA. She will seek to use her findings to inform pilot projects by universities aimed at increasing recruitment among students from lower socio-economic backgrounds. Angela’s Fellowship is supported by The Eranda Rothschild Foundation.

Angela said: “This project could truly foster policy change. Ultimately, I believe that the findings could lead to a tangible cohort of students who will progress to higher education having previously not been on the trajectory to do so. This would mean more students from lower socioeconomic status, black and minority ethnic, disabled, and care leaver backgrounds attending higher education.”

• Grassroots initiatives supporting university students of African and Caribbean descent: Jessica Agboola, a recent university graduate from Kent, will travel to the USA. She will work with UK think tanks to use her findings to offer improved support for students in the UK.

Jessica said: “Research shows that the US is the most comparable multicultural society to the UK when it comes to unpacking the support the Black diaspora have in higher education. Hence, I am keen to learn about the innovative approaches employed to leverage the richness of a multicultural classroom and how that positively affects the sense of identity of the student.”

“Churchill Fellows are inspiring individuals who scour the world for fresh approaches to today’s crucial issues,” said Julia Weston, Chief Executive of the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust (WCMT). “It’s a unique chance to make change happen, and every UK citizen over the age of 18 can apply. The next round of applications will open on 16 May 2019.”