JPMorgan and the Sutton Trust launch £4.8m bursary fund to help disadvantaged students get ahead

J.P. Morgan Chase has partnered with charity the Sutton Trust to launch a £4.8 million bursary fund to help university students from disadvantaged backgrounds access experiences essential to getting the best jobs.

Over the coming decade, the bank's fund aims to enable 350 British students - 60% of whom will be from black and ethnic minority backgrounds - improve their employment chances by helping cover expenses from essential living costs to study abroad programmes and training.

The idea is to help young people from diverse backgrounds make it into the most in-demand and well-paid jobs in the UK in future. The bursary fund will run by the Sutton Trust and managed at no charge by the J.P. Morgan Private Bank "with the goal of creating a lasting endowment of at least 20 years".

According to charity's latest research, the number of students not taking part in work experience or studying abroad has soared from 23% to 37% since the pandemic hit.

Young people face one of the worst job markets in decades. UK unemployment has soared past 5%, and the latest report from think tank The Resolution Foundation found the number of jobless 16 to 24-year-olds doubled to 850,000 between October 2019 and October 2020.

Viswas Raghavan, J.P. Morgan's EMEA chief executive, said: “The COVID-19 pandemic has further exacerbated historic inequities and structural barriers to opportunity for young people from low income backgrounds – especially Black and other ethnic minority groups.

"Good jobs are key to social mobility and improving the employability of disadvantaged students is an important first step towards a promising, sustainable and well paid career.”

Founder and chairman of the Sutton Trust, Sir Peter Lampl, said he is "delighted" by the new partnership. He said the fund will enable "truly life-changing experiences which will build important skills such as communication, resilience, confidence, motivation and leadership; skills which previous Sutton Trust research has shown are highly valued by employers".

The application process for the bursaries will open this summer and cover students’ participation in a wide range of activities and events beyond their core academic course.