University of Westminster and the Aziz Foundation offer Master’s scholarships for British Muslim students

Westminster is committing to support five students through the scholarships which will cover the tuition fees of a Master’s course and will be available from September 2021. The scholarships will be open to British Muslims with career aspirations in Media & Journalism, Policy and Law.

The Aziz Foundation was set up as a family foundation in 2015 by the Aziz family and its guiding philosophy and key principle of operation is to support British Muslims to bring positive change to their communities and beyond. In 2020 the foundation awarded over 200 scholarships at 54 UK universities with over 65% awarded to women and 160 to people in their twenties.

The partnership was founded on a number of core values shared by Westminster and the Aziz Foundation from promoting Widening Participation at the postgraduate level to removing barriers to access and success for BME students.

In June 2020, Westminster published its Black Lives Matter commitment plan to ensure an actively anti-racist, inclusive and safe environment for all of us to study and work in. These 15 key commitments which included developing cultural sensitivity, creating protocols for racial accountability at each level of the recruitment and promotion process, and conducting equal pay audits, encouraged the Aziz Foundation to choose Westminster as a preferred partner.

Westminster’s support in areas such as decolonising and diversifying the curriculum and the creation of Centre for Education and Teaching Innovation (CETI) - which provides strategic academic leadership in learning and teaching and curriculum development and innovation – also demonstrated its commitment to improving access to education for all.

The University’s Faith and Spirituality provision, which encourages all students and colleagues to explore their sense of spiritual wellbeing as part of its grounded, holistic education also appealed to the Aziz Foundation.

Talking about the scholarships Sally Olohan, Head of Student Support and Residential Life at Westminster, said: “We are delighted to be a preferred partner with the Aziz Foundation. Our purpose at Westminster is to provide grounded, holistic education with wide horizons and opportunities so that people from every background can pursue their career goals and make a contribution to society; this scholarship scheme will promote opportunities in the fields of media, policy and law and fits in perfectly with that aim.”

Dr Zain Sardar, Programme Manager at the Aziz Foundation, said: “We are fully committed to increasing the opportunities available to British Muslims looking to access higher education at the postgraduate taught level. We are also thrilled to welcome the University of Westminster as one of our Preferred Partners in this joint endeavour, and note with enthusiasm the institution’s  commitment to widening participation and closing the BME awarding gap at the postgraduate level.”

Students will need to apply directly to the Foundation which then selects the scholars, and will need to apply directly to Westminster for admission onto an eligible Master’s programme. For more information and to apply please click here.