scholarship programmeScholarships for Highly Gifted Students at Universität Heidelberg
Press Release No. 100/2020
13 November 2020
Hans-Peter Wild Talent Scholarship fosters young people with enthusiasm for MINT subjects
A new scholarship programme launched by Dr Hans-Peter Wild, alumnus and honorary senator at Heidelberg University, is addressed to highly gifted and motivated young people with enthusiasm for studying in what are called MINT subjects. Eligible to apply are very able up-and-coming students from Germany and abroad who want to take a bachelor or master’s degree in mathematics, computer science, a natural science subject or in a technical field at Heidelberg University. The Hans-Peter Wild Talent Scholarship is endowed with 1,000 euros per month and is intended to support the recipients – provided they have the appropriate prerequisites – until the standard end of their course. Beginning with the 2021/2022 winter semester, up to 15 scholarships are to be awarded annually, initially over a period of ten years.
“In order to cope with the current social challenges and devise good future strategies for society we need more mathematical and technological know-how, we need convincing scientific solutions. With the scholarship I would like to contribute to attracting highly gifted students, who are among the best of their year, to Heidelberg University,” says Dr Wild. That is his motivation for founding the scholarship programme, which, he underlines, “is a heartfelt wish”. Prof. Dr Bernhard Eitel, Rector of Heidelberg University, is grateful to Dr Wild for his extraordinary and exemplary support. “I know and appreciate Hans-Peter Wild as an open-minded person who likes to get things done and on whom you can always rely. With his scholarships, he will help us to raise enthusiasm for our university among the best minds, in a time of global competition.”
The scholarship is primarily based on academic performance and meant for prospective students who have not yet studied at Heidelberg University or begun with higher education at all. The aim is to fund students in the MINT subjects who have outstanding prospects in their course of study or future profession. The area of technology, for example, is to be involved through the support for students of “technological information science”, the course in “biomedical engineering” or the new discipline “molecular systems engineering”. The intention is to set up a network to promote the long-term loyalty of scholarship-holders to Heidelberg University, even after graduation. The application phase for granting the first scholarships from the funds of the Hans-Peter Wild Foundation is planned for spring 2021.
Entrepreneur Hans-Peter Wild, who studied law at Heidelberg University, is committed in many different ways as a friend, advisor and provider of generous endowments to Ruperto Carola, including as one of the group of sponsors of the Heidelberg Center for American Studies. In recognition of his long years of service to the promoting of research and teaching at Heidelberg University, the Senate in 1996 conferred on him the status of an honorary senator. Dr Wild’s great loyalty to his alma mater was also evident in his commitment during the fundraising campaign ZUKUNFT STIFTEN (fund the future) that ended in 2019. For example, he made funds available to attract outstanding scholars to Heidelberg University and also donated three million euros towards financing the new building of the European Institute for Neuromorphic Computing.