The Kellner Family Foundation announces its grant-award procedure for university students

The family foundation of Mrs Renáta Kellnerová and Mr Petr Kellner has announced its grant-award procedure under the Universities project and this year, the cut-off date will be on the 30 April, earlier than last year. In June, the Foundation will select the students who will receive the financial grants to help support them at university/college. The applicants will be notified of grant awards and the amounts at the beginning of the summer holidays for the 2019/2020 academic. Over the last nine years, the Foundation has allocated almost CZK 80 million to 164 students.

This year, the deadline for sending applications to The Kellner Family Foundation’s grant-award procedure under the Universities project is one month earlier. Applicants must deliver their applications, including all the required annexes, to the Foundation’s address by 30 April 2019. “We have moved the date for the selection of students one month forward, primarily for the applicants’ convenience. This year, they will receive information about their grants before the beginning of the summer holidays,” said Hana Halfarová who is responsible for the Universities project in The Kellner Family Foundation. “One reason for bringing the date forward is so that the future students of the first year programme who are at universities and colleges in other countries will know earlier whether they have been granted the funds to meet all the costs, and can therefore better prepare before leaving for university or college,” adds Hana Halfarová.

The earlier deadline is also an advantage for students in higher years, who repeatedly apply to the Foundation for support. They will know their prospects for the next academic year earlier, and therefore have more time during the summer holidays to spend on other beneficial activities. “Particularly at foreign universities it is normal practice for students to undertake volunteer work during the holidays. In some disciplines, they also use the summer season for intensive practical research,” adds Hana Halfarová. 

The Kellner Family Foundation’s Board of Trustees decides on grants based upon an expert panel’s recommendations. The panel does not only evaluate the applicants’ current academic achievements and ambitions to read the subject of their choice, but also the students’ plans for the future and their involvement in volunteering, the grant is not solely based on academia. The current grantees are involved in a variety of disciplines ranging from medical science to engineering, and humanities to art. 

In the current academic year, 59 students are receiving support from the Foundation. Ninety percent of the grantees attend universities and colleges abroad, most frequently in the UK. One tenth of the grantees are enrolled at Czech higher education institutions. 

The Kellner Family Foundation has posted the profiles of all grantees on the Universities website. As well as these profiles, there are blogs describing the experiences and impressions of the individuals who have received the grant.

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On the Universities project
Attending a foreign university should not be seen as an overambitious dream. For students who are talented, motivated, hard-working, but in lacking sufficient funds, The Kellner Family Foundation has developed the Universities project, under which it provides financial grants to students at prestigious Czech and international  universities. 

Candidates for the grants must submit their grant applications to the Foundation’s Board of Trustees by the end of April every year. Applications must contain their academic and extracurricular achievements, proof of language proficiency in the form of examination results, a recommendation by a person who has been contributing to the candidate’s academic or artistic development, information about the target university/college, an essay on the student’s plans for the future, and documents proving the candidate’s current financial situation. There is also a great emphasis placed on volunteering, i.e. the activities the student undertakes for the benefit of their community and society as a whole.

The Foundation’s Board of Trustees decides on grants on the basis of selections and recommendations made by a panel composed of Mrs Renáta Kellnerová, Mr Petr Kellner, Mrs Hana Halfarová, Mrs Petra Dobešová, Mr Radek Špíšek, and other representatives of the academia. In the second round of the selection process, the selected students will meet with the panel for interviews.

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