Press release: DAAD prize awarded to Brazilian Master’s candidate

Nr. 259/2017 - 13.12.2017

Vanessa de Almeida Pereira portrays refugees in the Göttingen guest student programme

(pug) The Göttingen Master's candidate Vanessa de Almeida Pereira has been awarded this year's prize for outstanding international students by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD). With this prize, the DAAD acknowledges her extraordinary commitment. She works as a language coach for refugees, has organised an intercultural film series and produced a film in which she portrays three refugees participating in the guest student programme at Göttingen University. De Almeida Pereira is studying Intercultural German Studies in her third year. The prize is endowed with € 1,000.

Refugees with academic prospects have been able to register as a guest student free of charge at Göttingen University since October 2015. They get to attend lectures, learn technical jargon, find out about the content of their future field of study and gain insights into how a degree programme is organised, all the while being attended to by a current student. In the film, de Almeida Pereira tells the story of three refugees who are at different stages of the programme. They talk about how they made it onto the Göttingen programme and their experiences as guest students, as well as their feelings, any difficulties they have experienced and their plans for the future.

"The film is intended to sensitise other students to the situation and history of these brave guest students and thereby potentially lead to integration within the university," says de Almeida Pereira. "Göttingen University is already committed to making great efforts with regard to refugee scientists and students in various different ways," says Hiltraud Casper-Hehne, Vice President for International Affairs at Göttingen University. "But it is only through additional and voluntary engagement that we are able to fully convey the welcome culture experience – Ms. de Almeida Pereira’s work is exemplary in this respect."

The DAAD prize is awarded to international students who not only excel academically, but who also show a notable commitment to social, societal and intercollegiate affairs. Watch a trailer of the video at www.youtube.com/watch?v=pijcv7jP_40&t=6sl; for more information on the film series, visit www.uni-goettingen.de/de/572515.html.

Contact:
Nina Giebel
University of Göttingen
International Office
Von-Siebold-Strasse 2, 37075 Göttingen
Phone +49 (0)0551 39-21335
Email: nina.giebel@zvw.uni-goettingen.de
Web: www.uni-goettingen.de/de/568268.html