DSW: Who is going to be "Student of the Year"?

• Deutscher Hochschulverband (DHV) and Deutsches Studentenwerk (DSW) are looking for the „Student of the Year“
• Award for student commitment goes into the next round

Bonn/Berlin, 6 November 2018. Who is going to be “Student of the Year“? Deutscher Hochschulverband (DHV - German Association of University Professors and Lecturers) and Deutsches Studentenwerk (DSW - German National Association for Student Affairs) are going to honour outstanding student commitment for the forth time with an award they established together three years ago. The prize money is 5 000 €. It is donated by Stifterverband für die Deutsche Wissenschaft. With the award DHV and DSW want to honour a student or a team of students who show remarkable commitment that goes beyond the general accomplishment in their studies and is special and innovative. There is no guideline as to the way they showed their dedication. The award is going to be presented at the “Gala der Deutschen Wissenschaft - Gala of German Science” on 8 April 2019 in Berlin.

“Amongst the 2,8 million students are many who commit to state and society, politics and associations, primarily on a voluntary basis”, explained DHV president Professor Dr. Bernhard Kempen and DSW president Professor Dr. Rolf-Dieter Postlep. “With the ‘Student of the Year’ Award we want to call attention to the students’ actions by showing the public an especially positive example.”

Both DHV and DSW ask for candidate suggestions. They can be handed in by 31 December 2018. Interested media representatives find detailed information in the following document: www.hochschulverband.de/cms1/fileadmin/redaktion/download/pdf/pm/student-des-jahres.pdf

The previous winners were

• the medical student Christoph Lüdemann of Witten/Herdecke University, who has rendered “help for self-help” in Rwanda and Sierra Leone with the association “L’appel Deutschland” he co-founded (2016)

• the construction project “Spinelli Barracks Mannheim” created by 16 architecture students of Technische Universität Kaiserslautern. Together with refugees they designed, planned and built a wooden pavilion on the former US military site. It has become a place to meet and retreat for people who live in the initial reception center (2017)

• The medical student Philipp Humbsch of Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin from Frankfurt/Oder. He founded the initiative “Jeder kann ein Held sein - Everybody can be a hero“ that gives free first-aid classes primarily to pupils at basic schools in Brandenburg. At the same time he sensitized to doing volunteer work with aid organizations (2018)