Matching Challenge - a success!

For ten students, the third award ceremony for Deutschlandstipendium scholarships at LMU in 2023 was a big day. The 22-year-old is in her third semester of dentistry at LMU. As the daughter of Pakistani parents, she has faced many linguistic and cultural barriers in her life. But learning is her passion. And helping other young people. That is why she is committed to ensuring that other young people from non-academic households can also study.

Mateeah is one of ten new scholarship recipients who received a certificate at the Museum of Casts of Classical Sculptures, in addition to the more than 500 young people already receiving support. The scholarship award process for 2023 had actually already been completed. However, a “matching challenge” ensured that even more talented and committed students could receive financial support. The vice president for academic affairs at LMU assured that the award ceremony was “the highlight” of his work.

The matching challenge scholarships only came about because a law firm challenged LMU in the spring of 2023: Could it turn 4,500 euros in donations into 9,000 euros and then 18,000 euros? Only then would it be allowed to keep the money. LMU passed the challenge. And in accordance with the principle of the Deutschlandstipendium, the federal government doubled the amount. The result: ten new scholarships.

Professor Jahraus was visibly moved by the willingness to donate. Not only by the Munich University Society, which provided the initial funding for the challenge. “We support young people from their bachelor's thesis to their postdoctoral qualification, and we were immediately enthusiastic about the idea,” said board member Professor Peter Höppe. But also by the scholarship holders, who covered a large part of the second half. “Many are so grateful for their support that they want to give something back to other young people,” Jahraus said.

“The Deutschlandstipendium is like a baton,” said Professor Ruth Bielfeldt, Chair of Classical Archaeology, in her keynote speech. Those who have it can advance research and then pass it on to other young people. LMU Vice President Jahraus also emphasized the importance of the scholarship program. He thanked all the sponsors. We need more people who don't just look after their own interests. “Through their social commitment, they hold society together,” he concluded. “We need more people like you.”

Museum of Casts of Classical Sculptures
Program (PDF, 1,142 KB)

P+P Pöllath + Partners • Münchener Universitätsgesellschaft • TABIÊ

Johannes Alt • Alumni der Tierärztlichen Fakultät • Mary Anena • Leonie Bachinger • Felix Bidder • Alexander Blaut • Tabea Blenk • Markus Böck • Heinz Böhm • Elisabeth Bollwein • Lucas Brecht • Moritz Brembs • M. u. U. Brunnhuber • Leonie Brunnhuber • Laura BuchwieserGremme • Franziska Bumiller • Hannah Buschkämper • Heling Cai • Öykü Çamligüney • Yelyzaveta Cherkasova • Paula Katharina Dam • Karl Aurel Deck • Nina Diemer • Iman Esmail • Judith Feistle • Jakob Feuchtinger • Ann-Kathrin Forsthuber • Lea Fricke • Tanja Gentz • Philipp Gerlof • Jana Germer • Katharina Granger • Dennis Greiwe • Lino Guevara • Sophie Gutenthaler • Sarah Heinritz • Charlotte Hermann • Nick Hipp • Johanna Hoffmann • Theresa Hoffmann • Tim Oliver Höhn • Niklas Holzner • Flavian Petru Iorga • Oliver Jahraus • Tania JavanbakhtSichani • Victoria Jilenok • Katherina Jordan • Mariia Kabak • Bernd Kaspers • Ceylan Kiratli • Manuel Klaus • Diana Kolb • Maximilian Köstler • Elisabeth Kowol • Jacqueline Krawczak • Rebecca Kremser • Sebastian Kunte • Oleksandr Kurbatov • Silvan Lange • Evgeniya Lechtmann • Jihyun Lee • Olivia Leuthold • Noemi Li Arzapalo • Tim Lindner • Linde Liu • Lisa Marie Livancic • Leila Ljubuncic • Janik Ludwig • Adrian Mahnke • Kirsi Manz • Hanna Markovych • Victoria Marie Martens • Andreas Maskos • Marios-Christoforos Materis • Kira Mattern • Melanie Meermann-Zimmermann • Nina Menzel • Felix Metzger • Filip Milojevic • Pawel Morgen • Cassandra Müller • Ruth Ney • Xiya Niu • Sofia Ossanna • Oleksandra Pavlovska • Clemens Miguel Pfeiffer Galvez • Emily Katrina Pinto Perdomo • Sebastian Poggel • Nadim Prähofer • Liyan Qu • Xenia Ritu • Anina Schafnitzel • Frieda Schlör • Stephanie Schmittner • Luise Sophia Klara Schröger • Leon Schropp • Rebecca Schwarz • Justine Seibert • Valeriia Shepetko • Roman Sprick • Anna Stashchuk • Adrian Stöhr • Jakob Sturm • Oleksandr Sulyma • Joel Szrek • Niklas Tappauf • Benjamin Tegeler • Anna Thommes • Liam Tiernan • Yara von Baeckmann • Pia Wagner • Julia Walbert • Jiawen Wang • Corinna Weidner • Emma Weißert • Susann Westhoff • Emma Wolberg • Maximilian Zhao

We would also like to thank the many donors to the Deutschlandstipendium who wish to remain anonymous.

LMU continuously strives to find people who are willing to sponsor a Deutschlandstipendium. The federal government then doubles the amount of funding—a wonderful way to mobilize civic engagement in education, in your education.

The Deutschlandstipendium makes it possible to accompany a large number of students on their academic journey and thus actively promote and support them. The goal is always to increase the number of recipients in order to provide financial assistance to as many students as possible with the help of the scholarship.

For the 2023/2024 funding year at LMU, the Matching Challenge 2023 offered the opportunity to reach even more students. The idea behind this challenge was to apply this principle of doubling within the university itself – twice, in fact. Because this was a great opportunity to achieve maximum funding with minimal effort, LMU confidently took on the Matching Challenge 2023.

• P+P Pöllath + Partners announced that they would donate €4,500 if LMU could also raise €4,500 from an existing sponsor. This was achieved with the support of the Munich University Society.
• Then you, the scholarship recipients and alumni, came into play: the goal was for you to donate a total of €9,000. Thanks to your many small and large donations, this task was also accomplished.
• As is customary with the Deutschlandstipendium, the total amount, in this case €18,000, was then doubled by the federal government to €36,000.
• “Thanks to your efforts, we can now award ten new scholarships,” said Professor Oliver Jahraus, LMU Vice President for Academic Affairs, after the figures were announced. He said he was very moved by the willingness of people to support education even on a small budget and to give back a little of their own financial support to society. The funding will now benefit young people who urgently need support and at the same time have the potential to change the world in a lasting way.

Challenger: Dr. Georg Greitemann from the law firm P+P Pöllath + Partners and the existing sponsor of the Germany Scholarship at LMU, the Munich University Society. Together, they provided a total of €9,000 for the challenge.