Smart Room Empowerment

Why an "Empowerment" Smart Room?

The goal of the "Empowerment" Smart Room is to create more equal opportunities. Whether from non-academic parents, a second educational path, or raising their own children, many of the scholarship holders are committed to going their own way despite special social, family, or personal circumstances. The idealistic measures of the "Empowerment" Smart Room help to see educational biographical peculiarities as potential and to strengthen them. In addition to the Potsdam University Scholarship, Smart Room scholarship holders receive coaching for key qualifications that are adapted to their needs. This can be training in scientific work, an insight into the method of design thinking or a workshop on successful project management.

In the Ferdinand and Charlotte Schimmelpfennig Foundation, the University of Potsdam has found an experienced and extremely suitable partner to support the Smart Room students with 300 euros per month for one year. The special feature of the Smart Room "Empowerment", however, is not the financial, but the idealistic support. "We want to help the disadvantaged not only financially, but also materially and ideally. Our scholarship recipients are usually well connected with other young people, but not across generations, such as mentors," says Thomas Swiderski, second director of the foundation, which was founded by lawyer Ferdinand Schimmelpfennig in 1987 to support needy students.

How does the "Smart Room Empowerment" work ?

The "Smart Room Empowerment" provides 10 students with financial and non-material support from the Schimmelpfennig Foundation over the course of one year. This year, the students receive a Potsdam university scholarship of 300 euros per month.  In three events per year, the scholarship holders of the "Empowerment" Smart Room can refine important personal, social and methodological soft skills. They will be guided by external experts and coaches.

The "Empowerment" Smart Room's workshop series is designed to empower scholarship recipients by providing them with essential skills, confidence, and a strong support network to excel academically and personally. We believe that every student, regardless of their background or circumstances, can achieve their full potential with the right guidance and resources. The Ferdinand and Charlotte Schimmelpfennig Foundation, in partnership with the University of Potsdam, is committed to making this vision a reality for our scholarship holders.