Foundation partners with City University, The Sun and The Mirror for new journalism diversity scholarship

Alongside the Randeree Charitable Trust, the COSARAF Foundation is delighted to be partnering with City, University of London’s Department of Journalism to offer a pair of postgraduate scholarships for the 2019/20 academic year. The Widening Media Diversity Scholarships will cover full tuition fees for a one-year journalism master’s degree at City, up to a maximum of £10,200. One student will also receive an offer of a six-month paid placement at The Daily Mirror, while the other student will receive an offer of a minimum of three months paid placement at The Sun.

The scholarships are earmarked for exceptional students who are facing financial hardship and are:

actively engaged in British Muslim communities
interested in the under-representation of Muslims in the media
interested more broadly in developing diversity in journalism.

The key aim or objective of this scholarship is to help develop a pool of Muslim journalists who can:

advance diversity in the media industry
improve reporting on religion and minorities in the media
champion under-represented communities.

Furthermore, these master’s degree scholarships are to support students who would like to pursue a career in journalism not just to benefit Muslim communities, but all communities, in pursuit of specific and common goals that will help create a more cohesive Britain.

The successful scholars will be assigned mentors by the donors, who will provide their mentees with advice and support on career opportunities.

Full details of the scholarship are available on the City website.

City's Department of Journalism is delighted to be able to offer these opportunities and thanks the donors and the two newspaper groups. We are committed to making entry to our MA courses as diverse as possible so that the profession in turn can reflect the widest possible range of voices.

Professor Suzanne Franks, Head of Department

City, University of London Department of Journalism

These new scholarships build on the Sheikh Family Scholarships launched by the Foundation in April 2019 which support underprivileged Muslim students through top universities.

These scholarships support students at: St. Anne’s College, Oxford University; University of Warwick; Cambridge University; and, the Cambridge Muslim College. The scholarships underpin the Foundation’s commitment to supporting young people to reach their potential.

The need for greater representation of minorities in the media is well-documented. These new scholarships will play a key role in helping talented young people from Muslim communities to succeed in journalism. We are delighted to have the support of The Sun and The Mirror in providing paid work to support further the selected scholars, demonstrating these key newspapers' commitment to this important agenda. We are really pleased as well to be partnering officially with our good friends at the Randeree Charitable Trust.

Jonathan Freeman, CEO

COSARAF Foundation

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