ESADE has allocated €2.6m to its scholarship programme during this course to offer grants to 250 talented students. Scholarship students already represent ten percent of the total number of students on ESADE programmes. The financial contribution for scholarships has increased by 276% (from €690,000 in 2010-2011 to €2.6m this year). Much of this increase is due to the 'The ESADE Challenge for Talent' campaign, an initiative launched in 2012 to obtain more funds for the scholarship programme and so increase the opportunities for young people with talent – but without sufficient economic resources to study at ESADE. As Eugenia Bieto, Director General of ESADE, highlighted during the scholarship award ceremony: ‘in just seven years, the number of students receiving a scholarship has grown by 117% from 115 to 250 students’.

During her speech, Eugenia Bieto thanked the more than 600 donors who participated in the scholarship programme and so ‘furthered the right of all talented young people to study and so contribute to a fairer and more balanced world.’ In addition, the ESADE director announced that ESADE now has seven ‘Future Grants’, a new form of scholarship created in 2015 for families and former students linked to ESADE that covers 90% of enrolment during a four-year degree course. ‘Our aim is to increase the number of “Future Grants” in the years ahead,’ said Eugenia Bieto. 

Opportunities for talent

‘ESADE and the people who support us are investing in you because you decided to develop your talent,’ said Joaquin Uriach, president of the ESADE Board of Trustees, during the scholarship award ceremony. ‘ESADE’s second and wider commitment is to everyone – we must work for the common good to make a better society,’ he added.

To conclude the event, Leandro Urbano, a BBA student with a scholarship from the Mémora Group, shared his experience in a speech of encouragement for new scholarship students: ‘We are privileged to be able to study at ESADE and thank the donors and the university. These generous scholarships are the first push. We know how important is first door of opportunity, and we will not hesitate to open many more. Take courage because the path will not be easy, but remember that we are accompanied by extraordinary people,’ concluded Urbano.