Yesterday ESADE held its Scholarship Ceremony, an event that celebrates the importance of the diverse origins and backgrounds of the students in its international programmes. The great challenge facing the institution is to provide more aid to ensure that geographical origin and economic circumstances do not prevent talented students from studying at ESADE. Over the past four years, ESADE has doubled the annual funding for its talent and merit scholarships from €2 million to €4 million, for a total of 190 scholarships.

Eugenia Bieto, Director General of ESADE, explained why the Scholarship Ceremony is such an important moment: “This is an opportunity to congratulate all of our scholarship recipients, to celebrate the increase in scholarship funds, and to thank all the companies and individuals that have collaborated with ESADE on this commitment.” Dr. Bieto also shared some facts and figures related to the ESADE Challenge for Talent, the campaign that has encouraged a growing number of alumni to contribute to ESADE’s educational project. “I would like to thank each and every one of the 600 individual donors, alumni and members of the ESADE community, as well as the 28 organisations that have made these results possible,” she commented. “I would especially like to thank the four companies – Alfa Consulting, Allianz, Chiesi and Roca – that fund company-named scholarships for students in our international programmes.”

Jonathan Wareham, Dean of Faculty and Research, congratulated the audience for having “the courage to embark on this new educational adventure at ESADE” and invited them to enjoy and embrace the differences among their classmates and to learn from diversity, which he described as one of the best ways to grow personally and professionally.

Reagan Smith and Duygu Ates – MBA ‘16 students who received the Collaborative Spirit Scholarship, an award funded by members of the previous graduating class – spoke on behalf of all the scholarship recipients. During their remarks, they expressed gratitude for the opportunity and accepted the challenge of continuing the tradition of creating a class scholarship.

With each passing year, the Scholarship Ceremony draws a larger crowd of scholarship students and corporate and individual donors, demonstrating the growing commitment to the ESADE Scholarship Programme.