Studierendenwerk Kassel awards first Kassel Stipendium to students with migration and refugee backgrounds

• Six students to be given scholarships for outstanding accomplishments and commitment
• Wintershall Dea Foundation for Democracy and Diversity and HÜBNER Group are sponsors of the Kassel Stipendium
• First networking event: award ceremony to bring together sponsors and scholarship holders

On 6 November, Studierendenwerk Kassel was holding a festive launch event, presenting the Kassel Stipendium for the first time. The funding programme, launched together with the Wintershall Dea Foundation for Democracy and Diversity, will provide financial support for six scholarship holders with migration or refugee backgrounds who have achieved outstanding academic results despite their unusual challenges.

The original plan for the first funding period was to award five scholarships at the University of Kassel. However, as a further applicant turned out to be equally eligible, it was possible to find the HÜBNER Group in Kassel as an additional sponsor at short notice. Under this scholarship, six students at the University of Kassel will now be given valuable support for their academic studies. As well as receiving a monthly grant of 200 euros, they can network with the regional business community and benefit from further educational opportunities.

Alongside the Hamburg Stipendium, the Kassel Stipendium is the second German programme of this kind designed specifically for students with migration or refugee backgrounds. Wintershall Dea, who are one of the sponsors, both in Kassel and Hamburg, have now established contact between the two student support organisations, Studierendenwerk Hamburg and Studierendenwerk Kassel. As a result, the Kassel Stipendium can draw on the experience of its sister organisation in Hamburg.

“The Wintershall Dea Foundation for Democracy and Diversity aims to promote development opportunities within a diverse society, especially in the field of education. The impact of a young person’s social background on their educational opportunities is still enormous in Germany, particularly if they have a migration background. By sponsoring the Kassel Stipendium, we want to help increase equal opportunities for promising young professionals,” says Mario Mehren, CEO of Wintershall Dea. “Both sides, business and students, can only benefit from meeting and working together under the scholarship programme.”

"It is a particular pleasure for us to help launching the Kassel Stipendium because education is very important to HÜBNER in many respects. In addition to the opportunities that we offer to young people, apprenticeships and dual study programs, education is a purpose of our company-affiliated foundation Hübner und Kennedy gGmbH," says Ingolf Cedra, Managing Director of the HÜBNER Group. "We see education as the key to social prosperity, democratic participation and successful development of people's skills so that they can develop their individual abilities for the common good."

“This is a very special day for our student support organisation, as it’s the first time that we are celebrating the award of our Kassel Stipendium,” says Julia Thonfeld, Vice Chair of the Studierendenwerk Kassel. “I’m so pleased that this scholarship enables us to support six students who made an impression on us not only with their academic achievements, but also with their special life stories.”

The Kassel Stipendium provides financial and non-material support to students who have demonstrated exceptional accomplishments in their studies despite their demanding situations. Applications are open to students with migration or refugee backgrounds and whose parents did not acquire degrees at German universities. As well as recognising the accomplishments and social commitment of scholarship holders, the Kassel Stipendium provides financial independence to some extent. To students it gives freedom to focus even more on their academic studies.

_{About the Wintershall Dea Foundation for Democracy and Diversity:}

_{The Dea Foundation for Democracy and Diversity is a non-profit organisation that seeks to promote science, research, education, art, culture and international understanding with the aim of protecting common democratic values such as equality, justice, respect and tolerance. The foundation supports projects, organisations and events that foster diversity, integration and international understanding and which strengthen democracy. Funding can be made available to associations, universities and other educational establishments as well as institutions dedicated specifically to this cause.}