Philanthropic impact

Our alumni and friends, including those who were members of the former Convocation, play a vital role in the University’s mission to enable access to education and deliver academic excellence. We are incredibly grateful for the continued support shown by our community over the past year.

The Convocation Trust, which was constituted in 1953 with funds provided from members of Convocation, continues to be supported by generous donations from alumni and philanthropists. Over the years, the Trust has awarded grants to a variety of projects to support the University and its Member Institutions, such as student scholarships, academic research, one-off events and commemorative projects, or facility improvements to enhance the student experience (see page 14 for further information).

We are delighted to report on some recent initiatives funded through philanthropic support from the University’s alumni and friends, as well as through donations to the Convocation Trust.

University receives a landmark gift in support of scholarships

In 2020, the University was honoured to receive a historic pledge of £1.2 million in support of scholarships for distance and flexible learning students from LLM alumnus József Váradi, co-founder and CEO of Wizz Air. Over the next 10 years, this landmark gift – the largest given towards scholarships by any living individual in the University’s 185-year history – will directly support up to 100 students to access education by providing a full scholarship to cover the cost of their tuition fees.

When asked about his motivation to give back to the University, József said: “Similarly to my professional life, I wanted to find the highest return on investment. I want people to live a better life and I’m eager to contribute to it with my intellectual and financial capacity.” A believer in the University’s mission to widen access to education, József decided to donate towards student scholarships and give others the opportunity to follow in his footsteps by studying for a University of London degree. “The scholarship is an enabler to make a difference for those who are keen to learn and develop themselves”, said József. “In my mind, there is no better investment than investing in the education of people who are naturally driven. As the saying goes, you give a man a fish and you feed him for a day, or you teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” The University received in the region of 1,500 applications for the 10 Váradi Scholarships on offer in the 2020-21 academic year, highlighting just how much need there is for scholarship support. The first Váradi Scholarship recipients are all undergraduate students, studying BSc Computer Science, BSc Psychology and BSc Business and Law, and hail from Bangladesh, Brazil, Czech Republic, Kenya, Kosovo, Malawi, Nigeria, Venezuela and Zimbabwe.

We are sincerely grateful to József for his generosity and for the life-changing impact these scholarships will have on our students.

“Learning about the Internet of Things has been a passion to me, but I was limited financially. Thanks to the Váradi Scholarship, my aspirations are becoming reality.”

Olawale Juwon, BSc Computer Science student and recipient of a Váradi Scholarship.

Convocation Trust funds seminars in world literature and translation

Last year, the Institute of Modern Languages Research (IMLR), part of the University’s School of Advanced Study, was awarded funding by the Convocation Trust to support a series of 12 seminars, coorganised with the London Intercollegiate Network of Comparative Studies (LINKS), whose members are based across various London universities. Through these events, named the ‘Convocation Seminars in World Literature and Translation: Beyond the Monolingual’, the IMLR sought to advance its mission to facilitate the recovery of the teaching of languages and research in and beyond London.

In a context where languages departments increasingly struggle to recruit students to their programmes, the emergence of courses in world literature and translation have allowed the discipline to maintain and even increase take up of languages. However, many world literature programmes do not explicitly require linguistic competency in more than one language, meaning students regularly study literature in translation without necessarily engaging with the original text, the context of its production, or the process of its translation into English. Bringing together scholars, teachers and students working in languages across London and the UK, these seminars examined the increasingly contentious place of world literature in the study of languages, as well as languages in the study of world literature, and offered several perspectives from leading researchers in the field. The Institute hopes to use this initial project as a seed to fund a larger AHRC (Arts and Humanities Research Council) Networking Grant in World Literature and Translation.

For further details on these seminars, please visit modernlanguages.sas.ac.uk/events

Diversity and inclusion toolkit for English studies to be developed thanks to Convocation Trust grant

As part of the University of London’s ongoing commitment to championing diversity and inclusion, the Institute of English Studies (IES) at the School of Advanced Study has recently appointed a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow to develop a Toolkit for Inclusion and Diversity in English Studies (TIDE).

Dr Sarah Pyke, who joined the Institute in September 2020, will research how the IES community has engaged with diversity and inclusion in their research and teaching. Her research, which is funded by the Convocation Trust, will address overlooked histories of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic researchers in English, and participate in decolonising initiatives within the Institute and the School. She will also participate in Decolonising the Discipline with the Institute’s partners: the English Association, the Postcolonial Studies Association, the University of East Anglia and University English. This working group aims to develop platforms for discipline-wide conversations that can foster and support collaborative action across English literature, language and creative writing.

Further information about the Institute of English Studies’ commitment to diversity and inclusion can be found at ies.sas.ac.uk/about-us/diversity-inclusion

Alumni support students affected financially by the pandemic

In July 2020, the University held the 2020 Student Support Appeal – a digital fundraising campaign giving alumni an opportunity to come together in support of our current distance and flexible learning students.

Thanks to the generosity of our global community, the Student Support Appeal raised enough to support more than 40 current distance and flexible learning students who had been financially impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, and were at risk of being forced to postpone or even abandon their studies. The donations received have been used to provide bursaries of up to £500, which covered students’ next registration fees, enabling them to overcome the financial challenges they are facing and continue with their studies.

In addition to the kind donations received to the appeal, many of our alumni shared messages of support for current students. One alumnus said: “Good luck to all students who face economic difficulties. This is an extraordinary initiative and we must all commit to reducing barriers to accessing education.”

The University would like to offer its sincere thanks to all who donated towards the Appeal, helping to raise over £20,000. The impact of these donations will be far-reaching and have a transformative effect on enabling our students to continue with their education.

For more information about supporting the University, please visit london.ac.uk/support or contact the Development Office on +44 (0)20 7863 1340.