Scholarships are the new trend for everyone
Students work in a lecture hall. About five percent of them now receive grants
Source: Getty Images / Vetta
In the past, only a handful of people were relied upon to move society forward or to create it, despite its poor start. Today there are more scholarships than ever before. Funding is available to almost everyone.
“We’re 99 percent!” There was the cry of the Occupy war. Scholarships have long been seen as an expression of inequality of opportunity, perhaps accessible to one percent of students.
Indeed, we are witnessing a significant development that many protesters will like, and it is paving the way for new education for many.
According to the German Student Union, four percent of Germany’s 2.6 million students received scholarships in 2012. Already this is probably more than five percent, and the trend is growing.
A special scholarship for everyone
However, this is not only due to German scholarship from politics and business, which may still be expanding. By law, about 2,600 foundations support students or young scientists and artists, both materially and non-materially.
After all, they are people who have an unprecedented variety of educational paths in mind. The Avicenna Scholarship for Muslim Students and Doctoral Candidates is an example of funding primarily by the Foundation.
Or from the scholarship. The Willie Rebelin Foundation to support students with chronic illnesses, but also a “recession” grant or a grant for Nordes and dropouts.
Internet portals help to find the right scholarship
The more specific the target group, the more challenging it is for the sponsor and the recipient to find each other. Portals like Stipendienlotse or mystipendium.de reduce marketing and search efforts.
Here are the best career opportunities for women
At only eight percent, girls and women in STEM courses and training professions are clearly under-represented. Careers in science and technology offer very good prospects for the future.
They now make it possible to find the right applicants for even the smallest grant. Increasingly, it’s less about top marks and more about social commitment.
Scholarship development is a reflection of society: where previously only a few were believed to be able to advance society with their careers or to get into university despite difficult starting conditions, today anyone can reach millions of people with a brilliant idea.
This applies not only to the billion dollar Internet market, but also to social projects and start-ups. The means of production of social progress are no longer in the hands of a few.
With scholarships, foundations become flexible sponsors of problem solvers, even in the niche – and stimulate a network of like-minded individuals, which becomes more important than money for many scholarship holders.
No target group is too small for a scholarship
This change is accelerated by you. For a while now, ArbeiterKind.de-Found with the Katja Urbatsch Award for Founder and Social Entrepreneur.
Her network has inspired a family of early graduates to study and has helped many large scholarship providers adapt to selection methods. Katja Urbatsch’s educational path and the establishment of the portal were supported by a grant from the Foundation.
There is still a long way to go to get equal educational opportunities in Germany But scholarships are becoming an increasingly effective part of the solution – for even more academic candidates.
By the way: If any reader comes from Oberbrabch say Ruder: Dr. As a rule, Ruder’s Scholarship Foundation has made you a target group. Apply fast!
The author has been the Secretary General of the Association of German Foundations since April 2016. Since 2009 he has been Ashok’s director in Germany and Europe.