In summer semester 2022, 48 students submitted valid applications for the excellence and social commitment scholarships. As is the case each semester, the majority of applications came from students in the Faculty of Engineering and Computer Science. To be selected for an excellence scholarship, students must have an average grade of at least 2.2, be within the standard period of study, and submit two letters of recommendation from their instructors.
This year’s winners included 26 Bachelor’s students and three Master’s students from a total of 16 countries. Once again, the degree course with the most scholarship winners – six in total – was Information Engineering. The largest number of recipients were from Vietnam (11), followed by Egypt (5) and Indonesia (2).
Students from the Faculty of Engineering and Computer Science were again the scholarship front runners in terms of their point scores, impressing the selection committee with exceptional achievements in their subject areas. With the highest number of points and an average grade of 0.9, Vitalii Indikov of Ukraine, currently in his sixth semester of Information Engineering, shone once more and received the scholarship for the fourth time in a row. Students from the Faculty of Life Sciences also demonstrated outstanding achievements. They included Lohith Dunna of India, who is in his second semester of the Master of Renewable Energy Systems degree course and whose average grade is 1.2. He explains what receiving the scholarship has meant to him: ‘First, it boosted my confidence level a lot as it is my first scholarship. In addition to that, it relieved me from having financial trouble and I could focus more on my project work rather than spending time worrying about my finances.’
In the German-language courses in the Faculty of Engineering and Computer Science, Quizhu Lu of China, in the fourth semester of Applied Computer Science, and Le Phuong Quynh Dam of Vietnam, in the fourth semester of Business Information Systems, were at the top of rankings. They each have an average grade of 1.3 and received the excellence scholarship for a second time.
Iryna Izotova of Ukraine, who is in her third semester of Nutrition and Home Economics and started her studies in the middle of the pandemic, also has outstanding grades. She was able to see the upside of the situation and found the videos of her professors’ lectures helpful as they enabled her to work at her own speed and pause the lectures if she needed to. She says that starting her studies during the pandemic was definitely not easy, but that there was also ‘very good support in the form of tutorials’. It was not hard to integrate these into her course timetable because they were offered online.
In the Faculty of Business and Social Sciences it was Minh Lai, a Vietnamese student from the Logistics/Business Studies degree course, who once again impressed the selection committee with her very strong achievements. She devised the following tricks to deal with the special circumstances resulting from the pandemic: ‘I would say there are a lot of YouTube channels that do fantastic work in summarising or simplifying difficult topics into three-to-five-minute videos. Thanks to these videos I could build a strong foundation for further complex topics given by my professors.’ She has experienced the scholarship as an affirmation of her achievements, and as motivation to develop other aspects of herself. She now wants to sign up for dance and language lessons.
In addition to the academic excellence scholarships, four scholarships for exceptional social commitment were also awarded. They are funded by the DAAD and recognise not only good academic achievement but also volunteer activity within the International Office’s intercultural programmes. Involvement in other student initiatives with an international element is also scored positively.
Angela Bohorquez Lopez of Colombia (Bachelor of Media and Information, sixth semester), Izabela Burevska of Macedonia (Master of Computer Science, sixth semester), Rima Hore of India (Master of Aeronautical Engineering, fourth semester) and Nabila Yusman of Indonesia (Bachelor of Business Information Systems, eighth semester) all demonstrated outstanding volunteer commitment in the international context. They each supported the International Office in carrying out the international Welcome Weeks and the weBuddy programme. Izabela Burevska has also been active in the area of development politics with STUBE Nord for several years.
We congratulate all the scholarship winners and wish them continued success and all the best for their studies.
More information about scholarships for international students is available on the International Office website. The next application deadline is 30 September 2022.
Authors: Hannah Klotz and Teresa Schaubs
