Amirana Scholarship Support for five medical students from four countries
Being able to concentrate fully on their medical studies without financial worries – with the help of the Amirana Scholarship, five medical students at Heidelberg University will be able to fulfil this wish for a year in 2024. We would like to thank all donors who make this support for students from countries in the Global South possible, as well as the committee members who carefully selected the scholarship holders!
The Amirana Scholarship, established in 2016, is aimed at Heidelberg medical and dental students from countries in the Global South who are in financial need or require special support during the final phase of their studies. This year, two students from Iran and one student each from Tajikistan, Cameroon and Vietnam, who are between the 4th and 14th semester of their studies, are being supported. Four of them have already been supported with an Amirana scholarship in previous years. Three of the scholarship holders are studying at the Faculty of Medicine in Heidelberg and two at the Faculty of Medicine in Mannheim.
"Unfortunately, I had to work alongside my studies due to an unforeseen financial emergency. Thanks to your support, I can now concentrate on my studies and my exams and also take time to relax," explains the youngest of the scholarship holders, 23-year-old Sharifzoda Abdughafor from Tajikistan, who is studying in his 4th semester at the Mannheim faculty and is receiving the funding for the first time. "I can now afford to attend all lectures and seminars with pleasure and without stress, and the exams also seem much easier."
Bita Janighorban Poodeh has been awarded the one-year scholarship for the second time. The 26-year-old from Iran, who is studying in her 12th semester, was able to successfully complete her Physikum at the Heidelberg Faculty in 2022 thanks to the first-time sponsorship. However, due to the tuition fees charged for international students in Baden-Württemberg, she was then forced to change states in order to continue her studies. With the renewed funding, however, she can now continue her studies in Heidelberg. "Thanks to your scholarship, I can now concentrate better on my studies and no longer have to worry about changing universities," she says happily: "Thank you so much for that!"
The current scholarship holders receive a monthly amount of 300 to 500 euros as a subsidy towards living expenses or tuition fees. The scholarship fund was established in 2016 with a generous donation from Dr Mahomed T. Amirana and Dr Annelene J. Amirana, a married couple living in the USA who met while studying medicine in Heidelberg in the 1950s. In recent years, further donations have been received for the scholarship – from Mr and Mrs Amirana as well as from US and European alumni and alumnae. In order to be able to support students in need in the future, we continue to ask for donations!
A committee chaired by the Dean of Studies, Prof Dr Hans-Christoph Friederich, decides on the selection of scholarship holders at the Heidelberg faculty. This committee is made up of those professors and academic staff who are members of the Faculty's Study Commission, as well as three other people: The head of the Heidelberg University Association office in New York – at this selection round still Amanda Daquila, in future Katja Simons –, HAI director Silke Rodenberg and the head of the International Office, Dr Alexander Au. A committee consisting of the Dean of Studies – currently Prof Dr Thomas Wieland – and two other members of the professorial staff selects the scholarship holders from the Mannheim faculty: As a rule, these are professors from a preclinical or clinical-theoretical specialism as well as a clinical specialism, as applications are received from students from different phases of the medical degree programme. Most recently, these positions were filled by Prof Dr Axel Werner Bauer and Prof Dr Nima Etminan. We would like to thank all committee members for their work!