A bursary scheme for journalism students worth up to £10,000 has been expanded to include online courses.

The Scott Trust, owner of the Guardian Media Group, has eight grants available for postgraduate courses.

Six of them are for newspaper courses but now, anyone applying for a purely online journalism course, can also try for funding. Two bursaries are also available for broadcast courses.

Successful applicants will receive their tuition fees and a £5,000 allowance.

The Trust said the changes ensured the scheme reflected the breadth of GMG's operations which include online and radio interests as well as newspapers.

The purpose of the awards is to assist students who face financial difficulty in attaining the qualifications needed to pursue a career in the media.

Graduates from diverse social and ethnic backgrounds are encouraged to apply and the Trust aims to offer the majority of the awards to applicants from minority ethnic backgrounds.

Dame Liz Forgan, chairman of the Scott Trust, said: "We all recognise that certain groups of people – particularly those from minority ethnic backgrounds – are under-represented in the media.

"In truth, though, both as an industry and as individual businesses, we have not made as much progress as we would like in correcting this imbalance.

"As a result we are missing out on a great pool of talent and are less able to reflect the needs and interests of the public we are supposed to serve."

The journalism courses are based at City University in London, University of London, the University of Sheffield and Leeds Trinity and All Saints.

Successful applicants will also be offered work experience with GMG whose titles include the Guardian, Observer and Manchester Evening News. The deadline for bursary applications is March 9.

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