Our vision is a world in which all people have the opportunity to develop their potential freely – regardless of their background. Therefore we award scholarships to refugees and foreign students from East Europe, Asia, Africa and South America who are socially committed and come from financially disadvantaged family backgrounds. Our goal is to support students who want to study in Berlin to help improve the living conditions in their home country or (in the case of refugees) of other migrants. SBW Berlin owns a house in south east Berlin, where our office, a big conference room and the shared student apartments are located.
We offer two types of scholarships: 1. Students with a grade point average that is equivalent to the German Ø of 1,5 to 2,0 This scholarship is awarded to students who want to develop and implement their own charitable project during and after their studies. Hence a detailed project description will be an integral part of the last phase of the application process. For the application itself a delineation of the project idea in the motivation letter is sufficient. 2. Students with a grade point average that is equivalent to the German Ø of 1 to 1,4 These scholarship holders do not need to create their own charitable project. Four hours of voluntary work per week is sufficient.
Eligibility Criteria
• 18 to 30 years old • refugee or citizen of a country in Eastern Europe, Asia, Africa or South America • still in school or max. in the third semester • a prior maximum stay of 18 months in Germany • no first-degree family members living for more than 18 months (permanently) in Germany • relatively low net income • no simultaneous funding through other grants • professional or voluntary experience in the non-profit sector is desirable APPLICATION PAPERS Applicants must submit at least the following documents: • motivation letter (maximum two pages long) • current curriculum vitae • record of your highest level of education (school or university diploma) • copy of the last school or university certificate with a grade overview • information about the net income of the household Applicants with a grade point average of 1.5 to 2.0 should also outline their project idea in their motivation letter. We advise all applicants to include the following documents but these are not obligatory: • one or two recommendation letters from your professors, teachers or employers • all existing job, training and internship certificates/reports • all existing university certificates and records of achievements (graded and ungraded) obtained up to the date of the application • record of the required language skills for the desired studies • evidence of university entrance qualification
Application Process
The application and all certificates and supporting documents must be submitted in German or English. If the original document is in another language, a translation must be provided. Further information about the application procedure can be found online. APPLICATION DEADLINE December, 31 and June, 30 of each year APPLICANT STATUS max. in the third semester (of Bachelor, LLM or Master studies) AIDED/FUNDED DEGREES Bachelor, Master degree or LLM. FIELD/SUBJECT OF STUDY all
