For the first time in its history, the ESADE Scholarship Programme has distributed €3 million in scholarships designed to promote talent, with a total of 281 students benefiting from these awards in 2018-2019. Contributions from ESADE itself and from the more than 700 donors, along with 25 organizations, participating in the school’s Scholarship Programme are up 13% with respect to the previous year. The ESADE Challenge for Talent, a campaign launched in 2012 with the aim of raising additional private funds for the Scholarship Programme, has once again managed to increase the overall resources of the programme. In just four years, ESADE reached its goal of raising €1 million in private donations. Combined with more than €2 million contributed from ESADE’s own funds, these private contributions have enabled the programme to reach this year’s record-breaking figure. 

The Scholarship Programme is committed to supporting talent and promoting diversity among ESADE’s young students, 9.4% of whom now receive some form of financial aid to study at ESADE. Of the 281 scholarships awarded this year, 109 went to students in the first year of one of ESADE’s programmes. On average, the financial aid received by scholarship students covers 53% of tuition costs. 

Scholarships for the 2018-2019 were presented to students at a ceremony held on Thursday, 8th November at ESADEFORUM in Barcelona. In his welcome address at the start of the ceremony, Enrique López Viguria, Secretary General of ESADE and chair of the Scholarship Committee, observed: “As an academic institution, the promotion of talent is our raison d’être.” Addressing the assembled students directly, he added: “After you leave ESADE, we hope that you will all be competent, conscious, committed and compassionate.” 

Rebeca Aguado, a fourth-year student in the Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) who received a scholarship from SEAT, and José Manuel Mesa, a third-year student in the Bachelor in Global Governance who received a Talent Scholarship, shared their experiences with the audience and reflected on the opportunity provided by the scholarships that enabled them to study at ESADE. Ms. Aguado commented: “All students, myself included, have goals. We want to progress, we want to have a better future and we want to leave our mark, but above all, we want an opportunity.” Mr. Mesa reminisced about his childhood in Baeza (Jaén province). “There are real people behind the figures, and each person has a story,” he observed. “The Scholarship Programme allowed me to make this leap. Without it, I would not be here today.” He wrapped up his remarks by thanking the donors for their contributions.