SONY CHAIRMAN Sir Howard Stringer has recently donated £1m to Merton College’s Access and Schools Liaison scheme.
Stringer and his wife, Jennifer Patterson, have donated the money in order to help Merton forge partnerships with state schools around the UK.
Sir Howard studied Modern History at the college and graduated in 1961. He has been Chairman and CEO of Sony since June 2005. Stringer was knighted in 1999, has an honorary fellowship from Merton, and has nine Emmys to his name. His net worth is currently estimated at upwards of $60 million.
The access scheme at Merton has developed partnerships with schools in Wiltshire, Dorset and the London Borough of Merton. Over the last three years, 65.1 per cent of students accepted at Merton have come from maintained schools.
Professor Martin Taylor, Warden of Merton College, told Cherwell, “The Stringer-Patterson gift to Merton College for access and schools liaison was an amazing present. It is one which will be of lasting value.”
He continued, “Our full-time Schools Liaison and Access Officer offers a range of activities to help the very best students, regardless of background, make informed decisions about studying at Merton and within the University of Oxford.”
Jack Morel-Paulo, Merton JCR Access Rep, told Cherwell, “We’re obviously very pleased and incredibly thankful for Sir Howard’s generosity. Although Merton is already one of the colleges with the best record for equal admissions, there’s always more work to be done busting myths and making sure ability is the only thing which dictates whether someone applies or not.”
At present, Mansfield College comes closest to state school–private school proportionality: in 2012, 84.7 per cent of accepted students were educated in the maintained sector. Pembroke College currently comes last, with just 47% of 2012 acceptances from maintained schools, despite the maintained sector educating 93% of the total UK school population.
Joe Collin, Access and Equalities Representative on the St Anne’s JCR Committee, responded to the news, saying, “Donations like this cannot be celebrated enough. When just one visit to a school can change an entire class’s perception of Oxford, and perhaps lead to them applying, imagine what such a large sum could achieve.”
The University of Oxford has recently received a number of particularly generous philanthropic donations, designed to promote access work.
In July last year Oxford alumnus Michael Moritz and his wife Harriet Heyman made a £75 million commitment, which, in combination with a “matched funding challenge” from the University, will eventually produce £300 million in the shape of financial support for Oxford undergraduates from disadvantaged backgrounds.
