History of the Baden-Württemberg-STIPENDIUM

Embark on a journey through 25 years of funding and networking. On this page, you will find the key milestones and developments of the Baden-Württemberg Scholarship. A detailed chronology is available in the downloads section.

2001: The Supervisory Board approves the Baden-Württemberg-Stipendium for university students and the programme line for working professionals. Today’s Walter Hallstein Programme for European institutions and the special funding line for film production are added soon afterwards. The first 162 students are received by the Minister-President at the Staatsgalerie in Stuttgart on 22 October. 

2002: Already in its second year, 740 scholarships are awarded. The Supervisory Board approves the Baden-Württemberg-Stipendium for adolescents and school pupils. The alumni network is established in November.  

2003: For the first time, more than 1,000 scholarship-holders receive funding; this completes the quantitative establishment phase. The Association of Scholarship Holders and Friends of the Baden-Württemberg-STIPENDIUM is founded in December.  

2004: To reinforce its identity, the brand now appears as “Baden-Württemberg-STIPENDIUM”. The first Regional Chapters are established in Mexico City, Warsaw, Singapore and Sydney.

2005: Further international Regional Chapters are established in Budapest, Kraków, Monterrey (Mexico) and Paris. The first national Regional Chapter is also established in Stuttgart. 

2006: The Minister-President’s reception takes place as part of the Annual Meeting for the first time. A networking portal for current scholarship-holders and alumni is set up on the website; all four pillars of the global network have thus been established. 

2007: The Baden-Württemberg-STIPENDIUM for university students is evaluated. The key finding: “The programme is described by the organisers, universities and scholarship-holders as very good and successful.” 

2008: Over 10,000 scholarship-holders have now received funding. As an exchange programme, the Baden-Württemberg-STIPENDIUM is now second only to the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) in Germany in terms of volume and number of participants.  

2009: The financial crisis forces the Supervisory Board to drastically reduce the budget for the Baden-Württemberg-STIPENDIUM for the first time. As a result, only 700 scholarships can be awarded. 

2010: A working group comprising all involved partners draws up the guidelines, which have remained largely unchanged to this day. 

2011: With the introduction of BWS plus, projects for the establishment and extension of international university partnerships can now also receive funding. Along with the Annual Meeting, a summer festival is now held each year. 

2012: The BWS-World online application and networking portal is introduced. 

2013: Rising student numbers and the euro crisis threaten to impair the Baden-Württemberg-STIPENDIUM’s attractiveness. A strategic focus on the core elements of the programme is resolved. As a first step, the programme line for school pupils is discontinued. 

2014: As a result of increasing networking on BWS-World, many new Regional Chapters are established within Germany and abroad, for example in Bulgaria and Colombia. 

2015: After two years of consultations, a strategic reorientation policy is adopted. The programme is reduced to the four programme lines that have basically remained unchanged to this day. 

2016: The revised Walter Hallstein Programme is advertised across all ouf Europe for the first time. In addition to reciprocal sojourns abroad, innovative projects in the administrative field are now also funded. 

2017: The Regional Development Policy component is introduced to reinforce universities’ links with developing countries. The new funding opportunities lead to greatly increased participation by ACP countries and Least Developed Countries. 

2018: A delegation visits Ghana to investigate opportunities for cooperation. Mediation on the part of Ghana’s Chamber of Foreign Commerce enables several professionals to be awarded scholarships in the following years. 

2019: The sustainability dilemma is presented to the Supervisory Board: it is decided that responsibility be taken in future for the ecological footprint of international flights; at the same time, it is emphasised that intercultural experiences are socially and economically indispensable. 

2020: After the financial and euro crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic marks a further turning point. All exchange and networking formats must be temporarily carried out online. 

2021: On 22 October, the 20th Anniversary Celebrations are staged at the Staatsgalerie in Stuttgart. The modernised scholarship logo is unveiled on this occasion. 

2022: An emergency aid fund is established in response to Russia’s war of aggression. In October the Online Academy is launched, which enables scholarship-holders and alumni to engage in exchange and joint learning independently of location. 

2023: To support transatlantic relations, an agreement is reached for involvement in the Benjamin A. Gilman Scholarship programme. These scholarships are awarded exclusively to financially disadvantaged American students. 

2024: After an evaluation of the Baden-Württemberg Stiftung, operational implementation is carried out entirely by the foundation for the first time, starting at the end of the year. Responsible for the programme is no longer the Education department, but the Science & Research department. 

2025: More than 30,000 people have now received funding from the Baden-Württemberg-STIPENDIUM. The visual identity and logo for the Regional Chapters are presented at the annual reunion.

2026: The Baden-Württemberg-STIPENDIUM celebrates its 25th anniversary. A comprehensive evaluation directs the focus to the future.