From Hauptschule pupil to scholarship student

After completing secondary modern school (Hauptschule), Gökhan Öcel did not yet think about going to university, not even during his apprenticeship as a machine engineering mechanic. "But when I completed my master craftsman's diploma in precision engineering, I grew hungry for more", reports the 37-year-old. Today, after more than ten years of professional experience and a continuing education course to become a state certified technician, which he completed as best of his class, he studies engineering at the University of Mannheim, his home town.

This was made possible by the Upgrading Scholarships programme of the Stiftung Begabtenförderung berufliche Bildung (SBB - Foundation Vocational Training Programme for the Highly Talented), headquartered in Bonn. Öcel and four other young people, who have received an Upgrading Scholarship, now were honoured at the Uniclub in Bonn by Chairman Andreas van Nahl, Managing Director Wolf Dieter Bauer and by Carola Messner, Programme Manager of the Upgrading Scholarship programme. The special thing about Öcel: he is the 5,000th scholarship student to receive support from the SBB.

Because he has a family, embarking on this university course was a difficult decision, he says. Studying brings with it financial cutbacks: "Not only I have to exercise moderation and thrift, but also my wife and our two children." His thanks therefore go not only to the jury for having chosen him, but first and foremost to his wife.

He studies full-time and therefore receives from the foundation a monthly stipend of 750 Euro as well as an additional sum, because he has children. The alternative would be part-time study whilst working, which is funded with 2,000 Euro per year. Like Öcel, Vanessa Himmelseher from Ansbach has also chosen a full-time study course. The 25-year-old likewise attended a secondary modern school (Hauptschule) and subsequently completed her vocational education and training as a childcare worker and nursery-school teacher. She gained professional experience as a supervising tutor at an open full-time school and, more recently, as a "career entry supervisor" at a secondary school in Nuremberg.

At first, she, too, did not think about going on to study. Her qualifications now earned her the scholarship for studying at the Evangelische Hochschule Nürnberg; her chosen course of study is social-service work. "Without my family, I would not have been able to achieve this", she says.