Opportunity Bursary

Opportunity Bursary is sponsored by The Sutton Trust (supported by JP Morgan Chase). This bursary provides grants to Sutton Trust alumni or alumni of the Aspiring Professionals Programme by JPMorgan Chase and the Social Mobility Foundation, to support access to opportunities that boost employability.

Opportunity Bursary - The Sutton Trust Supported by JP Morgan Chase, this bursary aims to boost the employability of our alumni. What is the Opportunity Bursary? The Opportunity Bursary fund, supported by JP Morgan Chase , will make available grants of between £2500 and £5000, to support with accessing opportunities which boost employability.

Each year around 50 students will be awarded this bursary. Launched in 2021, this bursary is aimed at giving Sutton Trust alumni the opportunity to benefit from experiences and opportunities outside of their studies, to help them build skills and help them become more employable. Students should apply with a proposal of how they would use the funds e.g. internship, activity or volunteering.

As well as a funding proposal, entries will be measured against social mobility criteria, to assess those who would benefit the most from the funding. For examples of what you could use the funds for, please see our applicant guidance document . Scroll down to find the link to apply.

Applicants must be Sutton Trust alumni (those who’ve completed one of our programmes), OR alumni of the Aspiring Professionals Programme by JPMorgan Chase and the Social Mobility Foundation.

Have completed at least one year of undergraduate study Be enrolled onto a course (UG or PG) in the academic year that the bursary is issued Be based in the UK and studying at a UK university (please note the funds will be issued in GBP to a UK bank account) How will successful candidates be selected? How will successful candidates be selected?

We will use the following criteria to sift applications and identify the 200 most eligible applicants: Social mobility scoring data – based on the existing information The Sutton Trust collects for its pre-18 programmes. * Once these applicants have been identified, we will then use external application readers to score the funding proposals.

We’ll be looking at whether the application is clear and focused on achieving specific goals and skills, and whether the employability or experience of the student would be enhanced by this.

*For Aspiring Professionals Programme alumni, y ou will be required to complete the same questions our Sutton Trust alumni complete at their original point of programme entry – such as information on free school meal eligibility, post-code , and whether your parents have attended higher education.

Applications are now open for the 2027 Opportunity Bursary The application process has two stages : Stage 1: Eligibility check Complete the eligibility check by Monday 7th September 2026 . This is the first stage of the application process. Stage 2: Full written application The 200 highest-scoring eligible applicants will be invited to complete a full written application.

Further information about the application process can be found here . Complete the eligibility check According to our research of employers say that life skills are more important than academic qualifications. of grads said university did not give them the necessary skills for the jobs they wanted.

working-class grads could not afford to undertake a work placement. Hear more about the bursary