LONDON — London rapper Stormzy is setting up a scholarship to help black students attend Britain's prestigious Cambridge University.

The grime artist says the Stormzy Scholarship will pay the 9,250 pound ($11,750) a year tuition fees, plus a maintenance grant, for two undergraduates at the 800-year-old university this year and in 2019.

Stormzy said Thursday that "if you're academically brilliant don't think because you come from a certain community that studying at one of the highest education institutions in the world isn't possible."

Britain's top universities face criticism for admitting a disproportionate number of students from white, wealthy backgrounds.

Cambridge has acknowledged that applicants from ethnic minorities have a lower success rate at winning admission than white students. It says it is working to increase diversity.