Carol Vorderman awards £2,000 scholarships to students studying mathematics in Wales

Carol Vorderman is awarding nine scholarships, each worth £2,000, to students studying mathematics at Swansea University to help people from disadvantaged backgrounds.

They are awarded to UK applicants for full-time undergraduate courses in Mathematics or Actuarial Science coming to the University of South Wales in September 2022.

The former Countdown star, 61, who attended a state-funded school in Prestatyn, said she wanted to help students with backgrounds similar to her own.

She wrote on Twitter: “I’m awarding nine scholarships to students applying to @SwanseaUni this year to study mathematics.

“I especially want to help students from a similar background to mine (professional tuition and free school meals) but these scholarships are available to all, good luck.”

The applications are evaluated by a selection committee, which deals with the career of the students and their answers to questions about their motivation to study and career aspirations.

Students from disadvantaged backgrounds are encouraged to apply.

Vorderman said she was inspired to study engineering at Cambridge University by her math teacher and is one of only a few female students.

It comes after the social mobility government’s czar was criticized for comments implying girls aren’t getting a science high school diploma because they don’t like “hard math”.

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Katharine Birbalsingh also told a Science and Technology Committee meeting that girls don’t seem to find physics as “fun” as other subjects.