Equal Opportunities Thanks to Scholarship from Merz Bildungswerk

For the first time, Merz Bildungswerk awards two scholarships to students from Syria and South Korea

Since 2018, the Merz Bildungswerk has been awarding scholarships to prospective students with exceptional potential and special personal circumstances, thus enabling them to study at the Merz Akademie.

Aiman Alsharif has already worked as a filmmaker in Syria. Four years ago, he fled to Germany as a stateless Palestinian, completed language courses, further education seminars and internships and already realized projects as a freelance director in Stuttgart. By studying at the Merz Akademie, he now wants to pursue his goal of being able to pursue his passion for film in Germany as well.

Peter Ott, Professor for Film and Video, describes the fellow as “an inspiring and imaginative personality who, with his life experience and cinematic expertise, is a great asset to the Merz Akademie and its students.”

Soyeon Koo, born and raised in South Korea, applied for a place at the Merz Akademie as early as 2017. However, her Korean high school education was not formally sufficient for her to directly begin her studies. Therefore, she completed an apprenticeship as a graphic designer at the Merz Berufskolleg für Grafik-Design by summer 2020 and simultaneously earned her entrance qualification for a university of applied sciences. Now nothing stands in the way of her studies:

“In the last three years I have seen, learned and worked a lot, and I have collected some wonderful memories. I now feel better prepared for my studies than ever before. I would like to continue on my path in order to be able to turn my passion for illustration and graphic design into a profession and I am very grateful that Merz Bildungswerk supports me in this way.”

Markus Merz, managing director and co-partner of the Merz Bildungswerk, explains the selection of the two scholarship holders: “The scholarship was created to enable particularly talented people who have an exceptional biography or are in circumstances worthy of consideration to study at the Merz Akademie. It is intended for those who are excluded from other funding opportunities due to their origin or other criteria and for whom it would not be possible to study financially without this support. I am therefore all the more pleased that this semester, for the first time, we are able to support two applicants who have begun their studies in these challenging times. They were able to convince the selection committee with their very good performance and their impressive commitment.”