Malala Yousafzai has unveiled a new graduate scholarship for Palestinian students at the University of Oxford. In her speech announcing the scholarship, she said: “We must all do everything we can to support as many Palestinian students as possible.”
Her scholarship for Palestinian graduates will be part of Oxford’s ‘Refugee Academic Futures’ program, which offers financial support “to pursue graduate study at Oxford to students who are refugees or other people with lived experience of displacement.”
Yousafzai’s new scholarship aims to “provide Palestinian students the opportunity to study at Oxford” by ensuring “they can overcome financial obstacles that hinder their educational aspirations.” Additionally, the program will assist in “guiding Palestinian students on their university applications for the UK and US.” Yousafzai revealed the first person to secure this scholarship will join Lady Margaret Hall in the next academic year.
Yousafzai is a world-renowned human rights activist and the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize laureate. She studied PPE at Lady Margaret Hall between 2017 and 2020, graduating with honours.
Since the War in the Gaza Strip, Yousafzai has spoken out about “Israel’s targeting of educational institutions.” She has already committed $300,000 in emergency support for Palestinian-led organisations and humanitarian efforts.
Yousafzai said: “Together, we are not just funding a scholarship, we are sending an important signal of solidarity with Palestinian people which will resonate far beyond the walls of Oxford.” She added that the scholarship “is about supporting young Palestinian voices which will resonate across the board.”
Yousafzai revealed her scholarship at a dinner hosted by the Oxford Pakistan Program (OPP), an organisation which seeks to “create new opportunities for Pakistani scholars and support Pakistan-related activities at the University of Oxford.”
A spokesperson from Lady Margaret Hall told Cherwell: “Since its foundation, LMH has been committed to opening up educational and career opportunities to talented scholars regardless of background. We are very grateful for the support of our alumna Malala Yousafzai and we look forward to working with Malala Fund, which intends to provide one-time seed funding to support this initiative.”
