With the DAAD Prize, the German Academic Exchange Service international students characterised by special academic achievements and Social and/or intercultural commitment have distinguished themselves. Nordhausen University of Applied Sciences awards this prize annually. It is endowed with 1,000 euros.

At this point, all HSN employees, members of the student councils and the student council are invited to nominate international students for this award.

Prerequisites to the students

• at least in the 4th semester of a Bachelor's degree programme or in the 2nd semester of a Master's degree programme
• Applicants must have obtained their higher education entrance qualification abroad
• outstanding academic achievements
• Social and/or (inter)cultural commitment

Necessary Documents:

• Letter of recommendation showing the extent to which the international student is committed
• current grade list

Proposals can be submitted by 15 June of each year. Following the deadline for submitting recommendations, the Advisory Board for International Affairs meets and selects the award winner from all the proposed candidates. The award ceremony takes place in different settings. So far, the Campus Festival and the Matriculation Ceremony have served as worthy occasions. The exact date will be announced in good time.

DAAD Prize 2024 awarded to Master's student in Environmental and Recycling Technology from India

This year's award winner, Ms Rutuja Koli from India, has been studying the English-language Master's degree programme "Environmental and Recycling Technology" at Nordhausen University of Applied Sciences since the winter semester 2022/23. "During her studies, Ms Koli impressed with her excellent performance, a high degree of independence and social and intercultural commitment at Nordhausen University of Applied Sciences," says Prof. Dr Michael Rutz, Dean of the degree programme, who nominated Ms Koli for the award.

Mrs Koli was already learning German intensively before her arrival in Nordhausen. Thanks to her independent way of working and self-organisation as well as her extracurricular commitment, she was able to get involved early on as a tutor and mentor for new international students at the university and in student projects. Ms Koli also proactively sought contact with the regional economy and was initially employed as a working student at Habau Deutschland GmbH at the Heringen / Helme site during her studies. Her potential was also recognised there and she was offered a project for her Master's thesis. In terms of content, the thesis deals with the substitution of plastics used in production with more sustainable, wood-based materials, which serves both to reduce the amount of waste and to reduce production-specific emissions. Mr Keilholz (Head of Research and Development at Habau) and Professor Rutz, who are both supervising Ms Koli's Master's thesis, are confident that Ms Koli will successfully complete her work within the standard period of study by the end of 2024.

Caption:

Image 1: Presentation of the DAAD award to the prizewinner: from left to right, University President Jörg Wagner, prizewinner Rutuja Koli, Daniel Harder (International Office/ Supervisor International Students), Prof Michael Rutz (Professor of Environmental and Recycling Technology), Frank Einicke (Laboratory Engineer) (Photo: Tina Bergknapp)