An Afghan woman has accepted an offer from the Yalda Hakim Foundation and Oriel College to study a fully-funded master’s degree at the University of Oxford as part of a scheme to support female students from the country, where three years have now passed since the Taliban returned to power.

Yalda Hakim partnered with Oriel College to establish a scholarship scheme for female Afghan students in March 2021. Five months later, on 15 August, the Taliban swept into Kabul, forming a de facto government which has imposed restrictions on the freedoms of women, including banning education. As of 1 October 2024 it has been 1,110 days since women and girls aged 12 or over could receive a formal education in the country.

Yalda Hakim, the Afghan-born, Australian broadcast journalist and the Lead World News Presenter at Sky News, said:

“I’m thrilled to be partnering with Oriel College and my friend, Neil Mendoza, on this exciting initiative.

“We are excited to offer this once in a lifetime opportunity to a talented woman who has been deprived of this kind of education as a result of the devastation in her country.

“At the same time we mark this happy milestone for our scholarship recipient, we must also remember that millions of young people and especially women and girls continue to be denied an education in Afghanistan.

“We remain committed to finding ways to help them learn and achieve their potential.”

Hadia Azizi, the scholarship recipient, starts a master’s degree in Refugee and Forced Migration Studies in October.

Provost of Oriel College Lord Mendoza CBE said:

 “Yalda Hakim Scholarships, awarded on the basis of academic merit and offering full funding for graduate courses, mean brilliant female students who have faced adversity can benefit from the opportunities that study at Oxford provides.

“My thanks go to Yalda and the inspiring work of the Yalda Hakim Foundation for their tireless work to help those whose futures have been put at risk by the brutality of the Taliban regime.

“I am so looking forward to meeting Hadia now she has enrolled in the next chapter of her education.”

Press Contact

For media enquiries or to schedule interviews please contact:

Jared Smith — Communications Officer, Oriel College

e: communications@oriel.ox.ac.uk

t: 01865 286541

Notes to editors

Interviews with Yalda Hakim and Lord Mendoza CBE are available on request.

About Yalda Hakim

Yalda Hakim is an award-winning international correspondent and documentary filmmaker. She is the face of the show “The World with Yalda Hakim”, airing Monday to Thursday at 9pm on Sky News.

In 2012, Yalda joined BBC World News as a presenter and correspondent, delivering hard-hitting journalism on many global issues. She was named Chief Presenter and hosted the flagship programme “Daily Global with Yalda Hakim” on BBC News until July 2023.

Yalda was born in Kabul, Afghanistan, and raised in Australia. She is the founder of the Yalda Hakim Foundation, which has established scholarships for disadvantaged Afghan girls to receive an education.

About Oriel College, University of Oxford

Oriel College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford delivering world-class teaching and research. In the past century alone, it has produced two Nobel Laureates, at least eight Olympic medallists and numerous luminaries in culture and the arts.

Currently, Oriel College has c.350 undergraduates, c.270 postgraduate students and c.45 fellows. In recent years it has become a centre for environmental science and energy demand research, as well as the science of longevity and aging.  In 2026 it is celebrating 700 years since its foundation in 1326.