For a period of five years the UM First Generation Students (FGS) Scholarship will be awarded to five students every academic year. They will receive compensation for their tuition fees for their bachelor’s programmes for three years. The donor hopes that by doing so this will lower the financial and social thresholds experienced by first-generation students, and thus improve accessibility of education and equal opportunities in society, the Universiteitsfonds Limburg/SWOL press release states. It would also help the UM realise its diversity and inclusivity ambitions.
A special grant for first-generation students is not new for the UM. The Prof. Jo Ritzen Scholarship (for French, Belgian and Luxembourg bachelor’s students at the European Law School) and the Candriam Scholarship (for master’s studies at the School of Business and Economics for young people from EU countries) are only intended for students whose parents do not have higher education. The grants within the new programme, however, are only intended for Dutch students and will be spread across all faculties (whereby every year one of the six faculties is left out; in the first year this is SBE).