Our partnership with The Robertson Trust

Scottish Investment Operations is committed to diversifying the pipeline of talent that comes into our industry. As a community, we decided that focusing on social mobility represented the best way in which we could compliment the various initiatives already underway within our member organisations.

The Robertson Trust fund, support and champion those seeking solutions to poverty and trauma. Running through their objectives are their thematic priorities which define how they will contribute to change. These are Education Pathways, Financial Security, Work Pathways and Emotional Wellbeing and Relationships.

Education is recognised as one of the best protections against poverty. Supporting people through education and into secure and well-paid jobs improves their overall wellbeing and reduces their risk of financial hardship.

We also know that experiencing poverty and trauma in childhood can affect someone’s ability – and opportunities – to learn.

Since the Trust was established in 1961, support for education has been an important part of their work. Now they hope to build on this heritage by deepening the understanding of how access to education and skills interact with poverty and complex trauma.

Throughout 2022, their Education Pathways team has undertaken significant discovery work, including convening grant holders to listen to their views and commissioning external research into which educational interventions could have the biggest impact on poverty and trauma for young people across Scotland. This led to a focus on mentoring and tutoring as early priorities for the thematic group to focus on. Additional priorities for the next three years will become clearer through ongoing discovery work.

Journey to Success

Each year, over 700 young people, known as Robertson Scholars, are supported through Journey to Success in a broad range of subjects across Scotland’s universities. Since 1992, the programme has supported over 1,000 young people to overcome financial and social barriers to gain the university education and career they aspire to.

The programme was devised to offer self-development opportunities and financial support to 16-25 year olds in Scotland who face barriers to higher education. They are particularly interested in supporting students from backgrounds currently underrepresented in higher education, including those who are:

• From schools with low progression rates to higher education

• From households with low income  

• Black and Minority Ethnic groups

• Disabled

• Have lived experience of care

• Carers

• Estranged from their family

• Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities

• From military families

The programme is aimed at driven young people who are passionate about self-development and collaboration. This could include those who have displayed a proactive attitude to taking on extracurricular activities throughout school, have volunteered in their community or taken part in relevant leadership programmes.  

As Journey to Success aims to develop an active network of peer support for Robertson scholars, a commitment to participating in the opportunities available through the programme is key. 

Journey to Success offers a range of training sessions and events throughout each academic year designed to support scholars to work towards a career they aspire to. Meanwhile, in recognition of the financial barriers many face to participation in higher education, the programme also offers a bursary to each scholar.