Bakala Foundation Sends New Batch of 18 Students Abroad

The Bakala Foundation awarded scholarships to Czech students applying to elite universities abroad for its ninth successive year. The board of experts selected 18 scholars from a total of 200 applicants - a record high in the Scholarship program's history. The universities of primary interest this year were European universities, such as Cambridge, or ETH Zürich. “The scholars come from a range of academic fields and have varied plans, but there is one thing they have in common, and that is great talent, dreams, and courage to succeed in the challenging academic environment abroad. I am proud that we can support such talented people and thus cultivate future leaders and experts in many fields for our country,” says Michaela Bakala, chairwoman of the Bakala Foundation board of trustees. The newly selected scholars will join the 129 students so far, supported by the Bakalas with a total amount exceeding 115 million Crowns. As in previous years, the scholars were selected by the board of experts, which met on 11th and 12th September 2018. Of the 21 students that made it to the second round, the board selected ten applicants for Bachelor’s programs and eight applicants for Master’s programs at foreign universities. The board members were: Michaela Bakala, Kristýna Borsodi, Pepper de Callier (chairman of the board of experts), Irma Comstocková, Lukáš Čermák, Michal Pěchouček, Radek Špicar, Vanda Thorne, Aleš Weiser, and Michael Žantovský.