NRWTalente Region Aachen
A student scholarship for more educational justice
In Germany today, social background is often a decisive factor for educational success. RWTH Aachen University and FH Aachen University of Applied Sciences are seeking to counteract this trend with the NRWTalente – Region Aachen project funded by the NRW Ministry for Schools and Education.
The scholarship program, which is unique in the region, supports dedicated, high-achieving school students from non-academic families on their educational journey. The program is aimed at young people from 8th grade onwards from all types of schools in the Städteregion Aachen and the neighboring districts of Düren, Heinsberg, and Euskirchen.
The aim of the project is to promote educational equity and equal opportunities and offer tailored support for young people.
RWTH is committed to supporting school students: young people are the future, also of universities such as RWTH.
NRWTalente offers a wide range of support, from in-kind benefits such as funding for learning infrastructures to individual, open-ended counseling and guidance provided by the two project managers from the universities’ academic advising centers. In addition, the scholarship recipients benefit from non-material support in the form of a highly diverse educational program. In five spheres of action (providing orientation, gaining practical experience, experiencing culture, shaping politics and society, and acquiring and deepening specialist knowledge), the program includes, for example, visits to cultural events, skills development courses, workshops on societal topics, visits to the Bundestag in Berlin, or language trips. The “Providing orientation” sphere of action has a focus on showing young people of all social backgrounds the wide range of options they have after school, strengthening their personalities, and bringing them into contact with universities and companies at an early stage. As part of the educational program, the school students benefit from the long-established offerings for pupils from RWTH, such as Learning Labs or the Uni for School Students, and participate in site visits to University institutes and research facilities.
Would you like to support future scholarship recipients?
In December 2022, the first 30 scholarship winners received their scholarship certificates in a ceremony in the Aula of the RWTH Main Building. At the end of March, 20 more scholarship recipients were accepted into the program, and there are now 50 NRWTalents in the Aachen region. Scholarship recipients are selected twice a year, in March and September. In order to give more dedicated young talents the opportunity to receive a scholarship, we are looking for further supporters. If you would like to support NRWTalente in the Aachen region, we would be pleased to hear from you!
More information:
NRWTalente Region Aachen
Your contacts are Janette Zakrzewski (RWTH Aachen) and Theresa Linkhorst (FH Aachen).
– Author: Janette Zakrzewski