Kellner Family Foundation Sponsors 57 Czech Students at the World’s Best Universities

The Foundation awards grants through the UNIVERSITIES project to students who are achieving excellent academic results but whose social background complicates their access to a high-quality education. The Kellner Family Foundation will provide approximately CZK 11 million in grants under this project this year.

“Every year, approximately one hundred Czech students apply for grants from the Universities project. Each and every one of them achieves exceptional academic results, and each and every one of them is determined to be among the very best in their chosen field of study. It was therefore not at all easy to pick the 16 new students to join the project this year,” says Mrs. Hana Halfarová, Director of the Universities and Open Gate projects at The Kellner Family Foundation. Nevertheless, the Foundation’s grant is usually not the only source of education financing the students receive.

“Students will not only get a good education, but also valuable experience of life outside their home country. They most frequently head to universities in the United Kingdom, the U.S., Germany, and the Netherlands, as well as other countries; and some of them continue to pursue their education here in the Czech Republic,” adds Mrs. Hana Halfarová. Their chosen areas of study also vary broadly. Students are opting for courses in mathematics, physics, chemistry, economics, law, journalism, and political science, as well as both visual and musical arts.

Candidates must submit their grant applications to the Foundation’s Board of Trustees by the end of May of each year. Applicants must attach their academic and extracurricular achievements, proof of language proficiency in the form of examination results, a reference from a person who has been contributing to the candidate’s academic or artistic development, information about the target university/college, an essay on their plans for the future, and documents proving the candidate’s current financial standing. Great emphasis is also placed on volunteering and other things the student does for the benefit of their community and society as a whole.

The Foundation’s Board of Trustees decides grants on the basis of the selections and recommendations made by a panel composed of Mrs. Renáta Kellnerová, Professor Radek Špíšek, and Mrs. Hana Halfarová. In the second round of the selection process, the panel meets with the winning students for personal interviews.

List of universities and colleges attended by students from the Czech Republic sponsored by The Kellner Family Foundation in the 2014/2015 school year

United Kingdom | The University of Oxford, The University of Cambridge, Imperial College London, Coventry University, Durham University, The University of St Andrews, The University of Aberdeen, The University of York, University College London, The University of Glasgow, The University of Bristol, The University of Edinburgh, The University of Exeter, Aberystwyth University,  Bath Spa University, The University of Warwick

U.S.A. | Boston University, Columbia University in the City of New York, Grinnell College, The Juilliard School of Music New York, Lynn University, The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Northwestern University, Yale University

Czech Republic | Charles University’s Second and Third Faculties of Medicine, ČVUT’s IT Faculty, University of New York in Prague/Empire State College, The Jan Amos Komensky University Prague, Unicorn College, The University of Finance and Administration in Prague, The Institute of Hospitality Management in Prague

Australia | The University of Adelaide

Canada | The University of British Columbia

Germany | Technische Universität Dresden

Netherlands | Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam