Due to the increased scope of funding and the introduction of new scholarship programs (Deutschlandstipendium, Aufstiegsstipendium), the importance of scholarships in the German higher education context has grown significantly in recent years.

However, previous research on funded students in Germany has mainly focused on individual types of scholarships. A holistic view of the socio-structural characteristics of scholarship recipients, based on a uniform data set and differentiated according to scholarship type, is still lacking.

The STIPEND project (STIPEND: Profiles of Funded Students and Empirical Data on Distribution and Benefits in the German Higher Education Context) examines the profiles of funded students as well as the regional and university-specific distribution of scholarships in the German higher education context and analyzes the impact of scholarships on further studies and the transition to the labor market.

The project focuses on the significance of government scholarships in the German higher education system, which it examines both theoretically and empirically, thus providing fundamental and application-oriented findings for the German higher education context. To this end, the project uses only publicly available statistics and recent secondary data from student surveys.

In several sub-studies, based on secondary data analyses, the following will be examined:

1. The profiles of students receiving different types of scholarships.
2. Regional and university-specific structural heterogeneity in the provision of Germany Scholarships.
3. The short- and long-term benefits of scholarships, as well as heterogeneous effects according to social background groups, are examined.

The research project is divided into three subprojects.

In the first subproject, the student profiles of various types of scholarships are described using a descriptive-exploratory evaluation design and based on the DZHW student survey. The aim is to create a comprehensive sociodemographic profile of scholarship recipients and to examine structural (e.g., type of university, field of study) and educational biographical characteristics.

Subproject 2 focuses on the regional and university-specific distribution of the Germany Scholarship. The aim is to analyze the high regional and university-specific variability in Germany Scholarship funding rates. To this end, a data set of funding rates will be created, which will be supplemented by university-specific characteristics and regional indicators on economic and living conditions.

Subproject 3 focuses on the short-term and long-term returns and impact of a scholarship (study satisfaction, academic performance, labor market returns, adequate employment in the first professional position after graduation) and closes the research gap on the effects of scholarships in the German higher education context. To this end, longitudinal data from the fifth cohort (students) of the National Education Panel Study (NEPS) will be used.

• Project lead and application: Dr. Christina Haas
• Project duration: 05/2025 – 04/2028
• Funding: Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR, formerly BMBF)
• Link to this page: www.lifbi.de/Stipend