The universities in the state of Bremen have given internationalization particular importance. They attract numerous students from abroad who would like to complete an entire degree programm here.
These international students
- enrich the cultural and social life at the universities and in Bremen,
- open up opportunities for us to look “beyond our own (German) nose”,
- will be ambassadors of our universities after their return to their home countries.
Many of the international students, especially from the countries of the Global South, live at the lower financial limit – they usually do not receive any payments from their families, but work along the way. They can quickly find themselves in financial distress due to illness, accidents, political upheavals in their home country, lack of scholarship payments, etc., from which they cannot free themselves. There is a great willingness among international students to help each other, but this is often insufficient.
In 1984 XENOS was founded in Bremen as a non-profit association to support international students at their universities who find themselves in financial distress through no fault of their own. The founders deliberately chose the (Greek) name XENOS: The “stranger” should be treated like a “guest”.
We keep our application procedure as simple as possible. Students can apply for funding at any time.
Personal contact with the students is important to us: We invite all applicants to an interview with our funding committee in order to get to know them personally, to understand their current emergency situation and to offer them advice. The committee then decides whether and to what extent support will be provided. The aim is to enable students to complete their studies quickly and successfully.
The funding consist purely of the contributions of the XENOS members and of donations. After deduction of minor expenses, about 99% of the money is passed on to the students. The board and the funding committee work on an honorary basis.