07 Jan 13

Sir Howard Stringer (Merton, 1961, History), former CEO of the Sony Corporation and currently Chairman of Sony, together with his wife Dr Jennifer Patterson, has donated £1 million to Merton College to be used for the College's schools liaison and access work.

This gift was inspired by the recent Moritz-Heyman gift of £25 million to the University of Oxford to endow scholarships for Oxford University undergraduates with the lowest household incomes. The very generous Stringer-Patterson gift counts at 100% towards leveraging the next tranche of Moritz-Heyman Funds. The Moritz-Heyman scheme's matched funding challenge to the collegiate University will generate an unprecedented total of £300m to support Oxford undergraduates from lower-income backgrounds within the UK.

Merton has had a full-time Schools Liaison and Access Officer since July 2011. The Access Officer, Cressida Ryan, is responsible for the College's outreach work in Dorset and in Wiltshire, as well as the London Borough of Merton. The Stringer-Patterson gift will be used to fund this work and its future expansion and the College and University of Oxford are extremely grateful.

Sir Howard Stringer received an honorary doctorate from the University of Oxford in June 2012.