Beethoven scholarships prove popular with TU/e Master’s students
With two scholarships, TU/e aims to attract (inter)national talent for the microchip sector to the Brainport region. This academic year saw the first cohort of nearly a hundred students who received a scholarship funded by the Beethoven Fund. Both undergraduate students progressing to a master’s degree and new international master’s students are eligible. ‘This makes studying at TU/e so much easier for them.’
All sorts of factors influence the choice of university, notes Sanne Goossens. She is a policy officer at TU/e. ‘Which Master’s programmes are on offer, do you want to study within or outside Europe, and what are the facilities like? A scholarship can then be just the right incentive to choose TU/e.’ She knows this also applies to the Brainport region itself: ‘International students see job opportunities here. That is a key factor in their decision.’
Excellence
When the two new scholarships were opened for applications, they were immediately inundated with applications from both the Netherlands and abroad. ‘We have two types of scholarship,’ explains Karen Paagman-Gevers, admissions coordinator at TU/e. ‘One for international students entering a Master’s programme and one for current TU/e Bachelor’s students progressing to a Master’s.’ The number of applications turned out to be higher than the annual budget allows. ‘So we cannot approve every application,’ says Karen. ‘That is why we assess them on the basis of excellence: which student scores the highest?’ Ultimately, TU/e hopes to award scholarships to around a hundred students each year, divided between the two target groups.
Financial incentive
For EU students, the grant is roughly equivalent to the annual tuition fees: around 2,500 euros. For students from outside the EU, that amount rises to 7,500 euros per year. ‘It’s a substantial sum, but you do need it,’ says Karen. ‘A master’s programme for non-EU students isn’t cheap, especially when you factor in accommodation. Think of the grant as a helping hand.’ Karen and Sanne regularly receive emails from grateful students. ‘It can make all the difference to them,’ they explain. ‘It takes some of the financial pressure off, allowing a student to really be a student.’ Karen adds: ‘Some say: “I might have come anyway, but this makes it so much easier.”
The TU/e will award the scholarships up to and including the 2029–2030 academic year. ‘We hope we can continue to offer them after that,’ says Sanne. The university is currently looking into whether companies can make a contribution.
Beethoven faculties
Not every student wishing to undertake a Master’s degree at TU/e is eligible for a Beethoven scholarship: this is reserved solely for students who choose to study a Master’s degree at a so-called Beethoven faculty. There are four such faculties in total: Applied Physics, Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science, and Mechanical Engineering.