Tata Global Beverages, owners of the Tetley Tea brand, has underlined its commitment to encouraging fair access to education by partnering with Brunel University to offer the 2013 Tata Global Beverages Re-Imagination Scholarships.
The scholarships, awarded for the second year running, include a £15,000 investment in support grants ranging from £3,000 to £1,500, awarded to eight students studying at Brunel University who have taken part in its Urban Scholars Programme. The donation follows Tata Global Beverages signing up in 2012 to the Social Mobility Business Compact, the Deputy Prime Minister’s flagship scheme which encourages businesses to help improve skills and create jobs by providing opportunities for all young people to get a foot on the ladder.
Urban Scholars is an intervention scheme providing opportunities for students to enhance their academic performance, self-confidence, critical thinking, teamwork, and presentation skills. It has a strong track record in ‘surfacing bubbles of submerged talent’ by raising the aspirations of young people, many of whom have faced challenging circumstances in their lives.
Students on the Urban Scholars Programme, all aged 12 -18 and from inner London schools, were invited to write short essays on the topic, ‘My Magical Beverage Moment.’ The topic was inspired by Tata Global Beverages’ belief that beverages are part of our everyday life as much as they inspire moments of magic, from a time to reflect, to sharing, inspiration and laughter, and moments which take us away from the ordinary.
Entries presented a global, multi-cultural view of how beverages touch our lives. Themes ranged from the importance of hydration and the life-giving properties of water, to how beverages inspire wellbeing and connecting with people.
Melika Morrison-Mills, winner of the main scholarship award, caught the eyes of the judges with her essay inspired by her earliest memories of regularly sharing bottles of Caribbean root drink with her brother, contrasting this with her experience of a visit to Ghana where she saw a desperate need from families simply for clean water.
She said: “The past few years at university have been my biggest challenge. I made fantastic progress at A-level and thought this would follow through to now. Although in school and during 6th form I received rewards for my achievement, the Re-Imagination Scholarship award is very special as it makes it possible for me to focus more on my studies.
I would like to thank Tata Global beverages for reminding me that I am an achiever and that all things are possible, even when the going gets tough.”
Harish Bhat, Tata Global Beverages CEO, said: “We believe that all young people should have fair access to education regardless of background and Tata Global Beverages is proud to continue our association with Brunel’s Urban Scholars programme and its proven success in inspiring learning. The essays this year were yet again creative and inspirational, illustrating the magical moments beverages can help create.”
Professor Valsa Koshy, Director of the Brunel Able Children’s Centre (BACE) which operates the Urban Scholars programme, commented: “We are very grateful to Tata Global Beverages for offering scholarships to the undergraduates who joined Brunel University after attending our Urban Scholars Programme. The Urban Scholars Programme is designed to improve life chances of students by nourishing their intellects and emotional systems, emphasising the message that they can aim high whatever background they come from or what type of school they attend. The scholarships will support the students to go on and achieve their goals.”
Scholarship winner Tycan Jaworski added: “To achieve my goal of working in the video games industry, I had considered attending a postgraduate course which would provide me with a well-respected qualification. However, the steep cost of the course prevented me from being able to do this. Now, thanks to the Tata Global Beverages Re-Imagination Scholarship, I will be able to do take this important next step towards achieving my dream.”
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For further information please contact:
Ant Moore or Lisa Donohue at FTI Consulting (PR agency for Tata Global Beverages)
Telephone: +44 (0)20 7269 7267
Mobile: +44 (0)7738 198 945 / +44 (0)7894 797 143
Notes to editors
About Tata Global Beverages
Tata Global Beverages is a global beverage business and owner of the Tetley brand in UK; its brands have presence in over 40 countries. The Company has significant interests in tea, coffee and water and is the world’s second largest tea company. 250 million servings of its brands are consumed everyday around the world. Tata Global Beverages’ annual turnover is US$1.4bn, and it employs around 3,000 people across the world. The company focuses on ‘good for you’ beverages and has a stable of innovative regional and global beverage brands. For more information please visit the Tata Global Beverages website.
Brunel University
Brunel's research-led, flexible courses are highly regarded by employers for their combination of academic rigour with practical relevance. As a campus university - a rarity in the London area - Brunel's 14,000 students enjoy a strong sense of community, and over £400 million of investment in social, teaching, accommodation and sporting facilities has made the campus environment modern and vibrant. Brunel is proud to play host to over 2500 international students from over 110 different countries, creating a diverse and cosmopolitan atmosphere.
About the Urban Scholars Programme
Our mission is to offer a supplementary programme for participating students. The programme is based on the latest research and thereby our aim is to enhance student academic performance and aspirations.
It is an intervention programme which aims to work through strong partnerships with local authorities, schools and parents to create challenging and enriching experiences for able and potentially able students who need additional opportunities to enhance their academic performance, self-confidence, critical thinking, team work and presentational skills.
We encourage the Scholars to develop intellectual curiosity and follow their interests and passions. We support them in raising their aspirations to be engaged in higher levels of learning and become lifelong learners.
For more information please visit the Urban Scholars web page.
For more information about the Social Mobility Business Compact please visit the Deputy Prime Minister's Office website.