Scholarships for top talent
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Category: Alumni World
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Attracting top talent is crucial to TU Delft. Outstanding international students often apply to multiple universities around the world. In an effort to attract them to Delft, the university offers various Excellence scholarships.
Attracting highly talented students is vital for maintaining consistently high standards in the lecture rooms, but also with a view to progression to academic careers with the university. Excellence scholarships are full scholarships covering both the student’s tuition fees and living expenses. The faculties also offer a number of smaller scholarships. This year seven students were awarded the Justus & Louise van Effen Scholarship. What makes this scholarship special is the fact that the money comes from a legacy. Up to the day he died, in 2007, TU Delft alumnus Justus van Effen firmly believed in the importance of technological developments to solving global problems. He and his wife left a legacy for academically excellent students from abroad who are unable to finance their own Master’s degree programmes. Next year, each faculty will be able to nominate two students for a scholarship from this legacy. The rest of the money has been invested to ensure TU Delft can continue to attract top talent in the coming years.
Delft Research Initiatives
A different kind of scholarship is directly related to the DRIs, the Delft Research Initiatives. These are the key research fields in which TU Delft aims to excel: Energy, Health, the Environment and Infrastructures & Mobility. These scholarships are funded by the university itself. Sixteen DRI scholarships were made available this year, with professors playing an active role in allocating the scholarships while also personally committing themselves to supervising the students concerned. Once again, these scholarships are only available to the very best international students. One such student is Vasudevan Lakshminarayanan, from India, who obtained his Bachelor of Technology in Chemical Engineering in his native country and first became acquainted with Europe in the summer of 2010. “I was offered the opportunity to work at the Institute of Material Physics of the University of Münster, in Germany, where I was awarded the Daad Wise Scholarship. I became interested in European culture and enrolled for a Master’s programme in Chemical Engineering with TU Delft, specialising in Molecular Engineering.” He chose TU Delft because the university has a good reputation and because of the high quality of research into nanotechnology. “I want to learn to understand the molecular phenomena in physical processes, focusing on the use of nanomaterials in the medical sector. Ultimately I hope to discover a medicine for cancer.”
Hugely enriching
Chinese civil engineer Sien Liu also received a DRI scholarship. “During my holiday I spent three weeks at the Nanjing Hydraulic Research Institute to see how they do things there. This a large institute, housing one of China’s most important national water laboratories. I think that this wonderful experience worked in my favour when I applied to TU Delft.” Without the DRI Scholarship, Rebekah Wagoner, from the United States, would not have been taking a Master’s degree in Architecture in Delft. She studied architecture for five years in the US and already obtained a Master’s degree there. “The approach to my field is so different here compared to in America – it’s hugely enriching.” Another eight special scholarships will be introduced in 2012 for the new research themes: Transport, Climate, Robotics and Process Management. With this range of 40 interesting scholarships, TU Delft clearly demonstrates that it really does invest in talent.
