The deadline for applications is 1 September 2016 and the eight selected winners will be announced in October 2016

‘Dream New’ scholarship programme worth €60,000 for exceptional students

Monday, 30 May 2016 - 11:55am Archana Venkatraman

An aid €60,000 is dedicated for eight exceptionally-talented students from less elite backgrounds to fulfil their ambitious professional dreams in New Zealand. The scholarship programme called ‘Dream New’ to assist students who dream the impossible.

Dream New scholarship for non-elite but exceptionally talented students to realize their ambitions in New Zealand

Photo Courtesy: European Funding Guide website

The deadline for applications is 1 September 2016. The eight selected winners will be announced in the beginning of October 2016.

“With this programme, we want to support those who are looking to escape the stress of the university and the rut of the daily routine in order to focus on their dreams and ambitions,” said Dr. Mira Maier.

The scholarships is aimed to help students fulfil their dreams in New Zealand’s future-oriented academic environment. The scholarships feature a semester abroad with the cost of all tuition fees covered. “Individual background, personality and also the originality of the application are most important for us when selecting candidates,” explained Dr. Mira Maier. “We’ve already received an application from a student who would like to found her own solar energy start-up company in New Zealand.”

The European Initiative for Transparency in Educational Grants has teamed up with Education New Zealand to form the “Dream NEW” scholarship programme. Together with Education New Zealand and 8 New Zealand universities, the programme has been especially designed for students who wouldn’t be typically defined as “exceptional”.

The programme is part of a broad-based initiative to create scholarship programmes to support students without an elite background. “We’re especially focusing on support for people who don’t fit a typical elite profile and pushing for the creation of new funding programmes for this group,” Maier added.

The students that are being sought for the “Dream NEW” scholarship are ones that want a new challenge in their life and don’t have any fears about confidently following their dreams should be supported. Creativity particularly counts when selecting scholarship recipients.
Adventurous, open-minded students who remain true to their dreams are invited to apply with a video or online blog/ essay.

The Initiative for Transparency in Educational Grants supports in particular high school and university students without an exceptional background, because it is precisely the “normal” high school graduates and university students who require support. In recent years, 24 scholarship programmes with a value of 155,000 € have been created for the “average Joe”, including a scholarship programme for people with unusual side jobs, an anti-stress scholarship, a scholarship for academically average students and the #ichmachwasanderes (I’m doing something different) scholarship programme for people with unusual CVs. The “Dream NEW” scholarship is a continuation of this series of scholarship programmes directed towards supporting non-elite students in their studies.

The scholarship search engine is the largest Initiative project. Using this portal, high school graduates and university students can quickly and simply find scholarships which match their own CVs for free. The fully automatic matching process matches the user’s profile with a database of 12,000 scholarship programmes with a combined value totalling 27 billion euros. The initiative has already received 5 national awards and every year it helps millions of high school and university students in their search for scholarships. The European Funding Guide has received funding support from the European Commission.