Law students to share £20 million gift from Harvey Nichols owner

 
Anna Davis @_annadavis14 November 2012

A London university today announced an unprecedented scholarship programme after a record-breaking £20 million donation.

King’s College London will give bursaries to 80 law students after Dickson Poon, the owner of Harvey Nichols, made the biggest donation ever to a law school in Europe.

It means that next year a third of all undergraduates in the law school will be on some form of scholarship.

The university, which has renamed its law school after Mr Poon, today called on students to apply for the cash. The money will fund the full fees for 25 undergraduates, while a further 50 will get £18,000 over three years.

Five postgraduates will each be given £90,000, which is thought to be the largest amount awarded to individual legal research students.

The cash will be given to pupils who demonstrate outstanding ambition and leadership potential as well as academic excellence.

Fifteen are reserved for pupils from China or Mr Poon’s native Hong Kong.

Mr Poon said: “My donation and the establishment of these scholarships is part of the ambition I share with the distinguished law school at King’s College London to set new standards in legal education and research.

“The scholarships will help to enable exemplary students with academic agility and unlimited ambition to develop into future global leaders in all areas of law, business, education and civil society.”

Professor Sir Lawrence Freedman, Vice Principal of King’s, said: “The Dickson Poon Scholarship Programme is the best and largest of its kind for law in this country and aims to attract the brightest and most talented legal scholars and students to The Dickson Poon School of Law.”

Mr Poon made his donation to King’s College because it will focus on trans-national law. He believes that the most pressing questions facing the legal profession today transcend jurisdictional boundaries.

Today’s announcement coincides with the launch of hundreds of bursaries for children from poor backgrounds to get into top boarding schools.

The Springboard Bursary Foundation aims to send 2,000 disadvantaged young people to schools including Eton and Harrow.

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