Massive demand for leadership scholarships for Syrians

The scale of the gap between demand and supply of scholarships for Syrian students at German universities this winter has been revealed by the German Academic Exchange Service or DAAD: 271 Syrian students have been awarded a scholarship in one scheme this semester, less than one in 18 of the 5,000 applicants.

Some 200 scholarships in the 'Leadership for Syria' scholarship programme are being funded this year by the Federal Foreign Office. The other 71 are being funded by the federal states of North Rhine-Westphalia and Baden-Württemberg.

All but 15 of the Foreign Office funded scholarships are for postgraduate studies, because the emphasis is on supporting students who already have a proven academic record. All 200 scholarships cover the complete duration of the study programme, including a living allowance and extras for spouses and children. Their total value is €16 million (US$17 million).

At a meeting hosted by the Foreign Office and the DAAD in Berlin on 24 November, German Minister of Foreign Affairs Frank-Walter Steinmeier personally welcomed all scholarship holders.

In different working groups and panels, the students discussed with representatives from politics and academia their first experiences and their expectations of studying in Germany, how they could support Syrian refugees in Germany and what skills they would need to help rebuild Syria.

DAAD President Professor Dr Margret Wintermantel said: "We have high hopes for the young and talented people to whom we want to offer a perspective from study in Germany, in order to one day rebuild Syria. At the same time our German universities profit from their enormous knowledge of the region and their cultural background.”

Speakers in a panel discussion on the theme "No Lost Generation in Syria – integration, prospects, zero hour” included DAAD President Margret Wintermantel; Dr Andreas Görgen, director of culture and communication in the Foreign Office; Svenja Schulze, minister for innovation, science and research of North Rhine-Westphalia; and Simone Schwanitz, office head of the ministry of science, research and the arts of Baden-Württemberg.

DAAD Secretary General Dr Dorothea Rüland said: "The current events show us that we must seek dialogue with young talents from the region to seek common solutions for the future. We are delighted that North Rhine-Westphalia and Baden-Württemberg have provided more scholarships and study places at their colleges."

Syrian nationals already in Germany, Syrian refugees in the region – mainly in Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq, Turkey, Egypt – and Syrians still living in Syria were invited to apply for the scholarships, according to Dr Christian Hülshörster, director of scholarship programmes for DAAD.

5,000 applications received

“We received about 5,000 applications, most of them electronically, with about 500 applications handed in to our offices in the region,” he told University World News.

About 58% of applicants were still inside Syria at the time of application, 25% were already in Germany, the remaining 17% in Syria's neighboring countries.

After pre-selection, 500 candidates were invited for personal interviews in Bonn, Amman, Istanbul, Beirut, Erbil and Cairo. The interviews were conducted by a ‘travelling committee’ of German professors – 30 altogether, covering all disciplines involved.

“The key challenge was to cope with the extremely high number of applicants and organise a fair selection procedure, based on DAAD’s high quality standards,” Hülshörster said. “For students coming from Syria to Beirut, we had to provide documents enabling them to cross the border.

“Successful candidates then had to apply for visas – and last but not least we had to find them places at German universities and organise language classes. In some cases, this has been relatively easy; in other cases we really had to discuss in length with the generally very supportive German universities which previous qualifications were transferable.”

In the end, 200 applicants were awarded a scholarship by the Foreign Office, plus 21 additional scholarships awarded by the Ministry of Innovation, Science and Research in the government of North Rhine-Westphalia.

In addition, the Ministry of Science, Research and the Arts of Baden-Württemberg funded 50 scholarships for Syrians already in Baden-Württemberg.

All grantees have followed an intensive, four-month German course and obtained during these studies seminars in the area of good governance.

Hülshörster stressed that the Leadership for Syria programme is not directed only at refugees.

“The purpose of the programme is helping to educate and train a future elite of academics who will participate in the rebuilding of Syria one day,” he said. “Scholarship holders therefore have very different backgrounds – some of them have fled their homes for Lebanon or Turkey, others have already been in Germany as students – with the majority still in Syria at the time of application.

“For our selection procedure, this did not count at all; the decision was just based on academic performance.”

The German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development is also currently funding 80 scholarships for Syrians at universities in Jordan.

In addition DAAD has just announced another ‘regular’ annual programme – separate from the Leadership for Syria programme – of 50 scholarships for Syrians. Selections will take place in January 2016, with courses starting in autumn 2016. These scholarships are all for studies in Germany – people can apply from Syria, from the region or from Germany.

Figures on how many Syrians of student age are currently in Germany are not available. Some 102,000 people from Syria applied for political asylum in Germany between January and October 2014 but many other refugees are still in the process of registration.

“We have no idea how many of them are of university age,” Hülshörster said. “But a rough estimate made by DAAD comes to the conclusion that German universities might have to deal with about 50,000 additional students next year – and not only from Syria, but also from Iraq, Afghanistan and other places.”

Allocation to DAAD

The German Ministry of Education and Research has just allocated €100 million for the next four years to DAAD to help German universities integrate refugee students coming now in very high numbers to German higher education institutions. The money will be used for language classes and additional support measures.

Hülshörster said DAAD is a membership association of German universities and its general policy is to select applicants for scholarships only on the basis of academic achievements – not on the basis of political views. So it does not get directly involved in checking to see whether some applicants might be using the programmes to gain entry into Germany to spread extremism or carry out the activities of extremist groups.

“Having said this, the German authorities have of course checked all successful applicants in this programme before they were given a visa for entry into Germany, but that is not DAAD’s task.”

Hülshörster said DAAD is hoping the Leadership for Syria programme is setting an example to other countries of how Syria and its young people can be given a chance in universities for a better future.

“German Minister of Foreign Affairs Steinmeier has said that ‘we cannot afford a lost generation in Syria’ – and that is what this programme is all about. In order to continue our effort, we have teamed up with partner agencies from the UK, France and the Netherlands in order to apply for European funding, setting up new scholarship schemes for Syrian refugees,” he said.