Bakala Foundation to Provide Financial Aid to Eighteen Students at Universities Abroad

This is the ninth year in which the Bakala Foundation has awarded scholarships to Czech students who plan to study at prestigious universities abroad. Out of the 200 applicants, the expert selection committee selected 18 new scholarship recipients – 2 more than last year, and the highest number ever in the entire history of this program. This year, the students showed more interest in studying at European universities such as Oxford, Cambridge, or ETH Zürich. The newly selected Bakala Scholars join the 129 students to whom the Bakalas have previously provided financial aid totaling over 115 million Czech crowns. “The scholarship recipients are students from various fields who all have different plans, but they are all linked through their great talent, their dreams, and the courage to successfully face the demands associated with studying abroad. I am proud that we are able to support such talent, thus ensuring our country will have experts and leaders in many fields in the years to come,” says Michaela Bakala, Chair of the Bakala Foundation Board of Trustees. The scholarships are not limited to any particular fields of study, and the Scholarship Program is open to all young people who have excellent academic results, are enthusiastic about their chosen field, and, in addition, are interested in the world around them. The majority of this year’s applicants are either still students of, or have completed, general education secondary schools. The greatest level of interest was in the natural sciences (50 %), followed by the social sciences (33 %) and the humanities and the arts (17 %). Five of the students are from Prague, with the remaining thirteen from eight other of the Czech Republic’s regions. Please see the whole press release here.