Deutsche Universitätsstiftung, scholarship programs TANDEM & WELCOME

According to recent studies (“Bildung auf einen Blick 2014”, OECD; “Exmatrikulationsbefragung 2015”, University of Konstanz) students from non-academic families, so called “First Generation Students”, have great difficulties to find their way in an unfamiliar academic environment as they are not sufficiently supported.

With the scholarship program TANDEM, Deutsche Universitätsstiftung aims at students from non-academic families and connects them with mentors. This way, they have a contact person to refer to regarding all questions relating to their studies. In addition, the scholarship program WELCOME has been developed for undergraduate students in Germany who have come here from refugee areas.

The programs stand out thanks to their one-on-one mentoring character. The mentors, namely university teachers, are related to the students’ area of studies and are located near their academic godchildren. Given these criteria, the programs enable a qualified mentoring through continuous exchange. The scholars are motivated to be curious and obtain qualified support regarding for instance their choices of main subjects or their job perspectives after graduation.

We support three scholars of each program throughout their three-year undergraduate studies. Furthermore, we help them to find internships within Röchling companies. „A certain proximity to a business location as well as the professional orientation allow us to provide such support. We appreciate the long-term perspective, both at the personal and human level as well as in terms of our foundation activities”, said Countess Annunziata Hoensbroech in an interview with the magazine philanthropie und stiftung.

Meeting with our scholars

In June 2017, our members of the Board of Trustees met four of our six TANDEM and WELCOME scholars in Mannheim. Afterwards, the scholars visited the Röchling Automotive plant in Worms.

  • TANDEM scholar Nadja Götzelmann: She is 22 years old, from Würzburg and studying Mechanical Engineering at the Friedrich-Alexander University in Erlangen.
  • WELCOME scholar Abdul Basir Rasooli: He is 28 years old, from Afghanistan and studying Technical Chemistry at the University of Applied Sciences Cologne.
  • WELCOME scholar Majd Behnana: He is 22 years old, from Syria and studying Material Sciences at the TU Darmstadt.
  • WELCOME scholar Abdulkader Razzouk: He is 25 years old, from Syria and studying Informatics at the University of Augsburg.

Project Partner

A statement on the collaboration of the Röchling foundation and the Deutsche Universitätsstiftung – important to know, nice to hear:

Dipl. pol. Cornelia C. Kliment

Deutsche Universitätsstiftung, Director

DHV-Funds-Consult, Director

Leaders In Science, Consultant

Section Stiftungsfundraising/Fundraisingverband, Manager

What does the collaboration with the Röchling Stiftung mean to you?

Soon after my presentation in front of the Röchling foundation‘s Board of Trustees in 2015, I received a positive feedback: the foundation agreed on sponsoring two TANDEM scholars. At that early stage of our program, it allowed for huge improvements in our efforts of developing the program according to the needs of the target group. The support of the Röchling foundation has significantly increased the impact of our work from early on.

What would have been different without our cooperation?

We would have grown at a much slower pace and would have missed a sponsorship that we perceive to be very sincere and helpful – including the foundation’s contribution in choosing scholars for the WELCOME program. I have specifically been impressed by one of Röchling foundation’s studies on the power of integration through voluntary activities by refugees themselves – we therefore gladly participate in this process together with our scholars. Also, we have been impressed by the personal level of support that the Röchling foundation offers to its scholars.

How do you experience our „Project sponsors model“?

We have found this model to be a very intensive form of cooperation. The way the Röchling foundation has assumed responsibility through Michael Röchling [the project godfather] has been exemplary. We gladly recommend the Röchling foundation to other support institutions.