The FINANCIAL — Morgan Stanley announced the launch of the Morgan Stanley Future Generation Scholarship, a flagship programme to support up to 25 UK students annually from ethnic-minority and/or socially mobile backgrounds with an internship at the bank and significant financial assistance to meet their university fees and associated living costs. The initiative, championed by Morgan Stanley’s Institute for Inclusion (IfI), forms a key part of the firm’s holistic diversity and inclusion strategy aimed at meaningfully supporting and advancing the career aspirations of ethnic minority and/or socially disadvantaged student talent.
With this significant financial commitment, specifically focused on the recruitment of diverse UK campus talent, Morgan Stanley will pledge £10,000 for each undergraduate towards the tuition and living costs at university. In total, it’s a £250,000 annual investment funded by the IfI, a board-led organisation that drives diversity, equity and inclusion change within Morgan Stanley and in support of underserved communities.
The scholarship applies to students from ethnic-minority and/or socially-mobile backgrounds who have been offered an internship on either the Summer Analysts or Industrial Placement programmes. As part of the internship placement, candidates will have access to a dedicated mentor, a professional support network, and other career guidance.
With its promise of funding and dedicated mentoring and career guidance, the Morgan Stanley Future Generation Scholarship initiative boldly extends the bank’s already significant efforts in offering internships and placements to hundreds of worthy career-starters. The aim is to set students up for success in a career field of their choosing.
“Educational and career attainment too often is blocked by financial pressures and other barriers to entry such as discrimination. The Morgan Stanley Future Generation Scholarship programme targets those obstacles in an integrated way, creating tremendous opportunities in financial services for future generations of underrepresented scholars,” said Clare Woodman, head of EMEA and Chief Executive Officer of Morgan Stanley International.
“Commit to Diversity & Inclusion is a core value at Morgan Stanley, and this programme represents a big leap forward in tackling ethnic and socio-economic disparities in the workplace and promoting the recruitment and career progression of diverse scholars,” said Tosin Akinluyi, EMEA Head of Macro Research and leader of Morgan Stanley’s Race to Action Group, which drives the bank’s race-inclusion strategy.
“The Future Generation Scholarship perfectly embodies the firm’s guiding philosophy to drive better outcomes for disadvantaged communities. It aligns with our core values of not only giving back, but delivering a powerful platform for realising careers and advancing a more equitable and inclusive society,” said Susan Reid, Director of the Institute for Inclusion and Global Head of Diversity & Inclusion at Morgan Stanley.
The ground-breaking programme will be launched across UK universities this year, with recruitment taking place for an inaugural internship intake scheduled for June 2022. Candidates will be eligible for intern roles across Investment Banking, Capital Markets, Sales & Trading, Research, Investment Management, Technology, Compliance and Risk Management, among others.
