An ambitious college student living in Ealing is in the running to gain a university scholarship worth up to £15,000 thanks to the launch of L&Q housing association’s new Turlogh O’Brien Scholarship programme.

Ekemini Josh Alfred is from Greenford in Ealing and attends St Charles College near Ladbroke Grove.

The scholarship programme is open to L&Q residents’ children across London. In Ealing the housing association manages more than 320 homes.

The programme was developed to help young people living in financially excluded households to access university and is named after L&Q’s previous chairman of nine years, Turlogh O’Brien, who is a passionate advocate for higher and further education.

The Turlogh O’Brien Scholarship programme will provide ten scholarships for the academic year starting in September 2017.

There are 13 eligible applicants who will be selected for the scholarship places based upon the grades they receive, which must be in line with their predicted results.

The scholarships will consist of three annual £5,000 contributions towards the candidates’ university fees.

The programme will also include a paid month long internship with L&Q in the second year of their studies.

The Turlogh O’Brien Scholarship programme is being funded by the L&Q Foundation, which was established in 2011, with the purpose of improving peoples’ lives in the communities L&Q serves and to support its mission of creating places where people want to live.

Over the next ten years the L&Q Foundation will invest £250m across London and the South East in projects that tackle disadvantage across four key areas: financial exclusion, unemployment, community cohesion and positive opportunities for young people.  

"As chair of L&Q and in my current role at Southampton University, I have seen the profound effect that a secure home and access to higher education can have on someone’s life choices," said L&Q former chairman Turlogh O’Brien.

"Through the scholarship programme L&Q will help to alleviate the financial burden faced today by young people so that they can focus on their studies and gain great experiences and qualifications for their future.”