10/08/2021

DAAD Award 2021: Joy Okundia impresses across the board

Every year Rhine-Waal University of Applied Sciences bestows an award on behalf of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) to a student who demonstrates both excellent academic talent as well as an exemplary level of social engagement. This year’s award went to undergraduate Joy Okundia. She impressed the jury not only with her academic excellence, but also her commitment to helping other students and bettering the scientific community.

In fact, the outstanding papers she has written in her degree programme International Business Administration at Rhine-Waal University of Applied Sciences don’t gather dust in a drawer: instead, Ms Okundia, who hails from Nigeria, shares her hard-earned knowledge with others online. She publishes her work on open source platforms and shares them in social media, demonstrating an openness and desire to enrich the scientific community. Ms Okundia also supports international students new to Germany through the Pan African Organization. She fights for equal opportunities and against discrimination in United Nations Women, organising events and supporting the social media activities of the organisation.

Professor Dr Daniel Scheible nominated Ms Okundia for the DAAD Award, which comes with a 1,000 EUR prize, and is very happy that the jury selected his student. He points out that Ms Okundia has strived to achieve her full potential at every point during her studies and remained active and engaged throughout the digital semesters resulting from the coronavirus pandemic. Professor Dr Tatiana Zimenkova, Vice-President for Internationalisation and Diversity, noted that Ms Okundia impressed the jury across the board. The award certificate was conferred via digital ceremony due to the ongoing pandemic. “We are very proud and pleased to have students such as yourself at our University”, said Professor Dr Zimenkova.

A visibly touched Okundia said that the award “felt like a dream come true.” She thanked her fellow students, professors and advisors for their dependable support during her studies, noting that she feels strengthened by the award and would like to share this strength with other students.