Student Grace Danielle Matcheu Youmssi receives DAAD prize

Award for commitment and outstanding academic achievements

Starting university can be a challenge for international students. Cultural and language barriers do not always make it easy for them to connect with their fellow students and lecturers. For Grace Danielle Matcheu Youmssi, a business informatics student from Bremerhaven, this was a reason to get particularly involved in her studies and volunteer work. She has now been awarded the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) prize for her efforts.

Grace Danielle Matcheu Youmssi was surprised by the news that she had won the prize. ‘My professor, Dr Laura Bieker-Walz, told me that she wanted to nominate me. But I never thought I would actually win the award. I am very happy about it. For me, it is proof that commitment pays off. Especially when you are studying in another country. I would like to thank Dr Bieker-Walz very much for nominating me,’ says the award winner. 

Although Grace Danielle Matcheu Youmssi was offered places at three universities, she chose Bremerhaven. ‘A friend of mine lives here and I thought it would be better not to be completely alone in a new city,’ she explains. Like many international students, she initially faced the challenge of dealing with language barriers. As her mother tongue is French, English translations were of little help. This motivated her to get particularly involved in her studies and seek contact with her fellow students and lecturers: ‘It's difficult for international students if you always keep to yourself. Especially if you actually want to learn the language. That's why I wanted to have a good relationship not only with the other students, but also with the lecturers.’ In this way, she not only networked well within her degree programme, but also successfully completed her studies to date and stood out with her excellent performance.

Through exchanges with lecturers on the course, the award winner also became aware of the group ‘Women in Computer Science’ (FIT), which immediately sparked her interest. This group aims to encourage women to pursue a career in IT. Even though recently published statistics show that the number of female students starting computer science courses is slowly increasing, men continue to be overrepresented in this field. ‘Many women think computer science is too difficult. But there are many role models who prove the opposite,’ says Ms Matcheu Youmssi. The FIT group wants to make these role models visible and present them in a web application. The student is also involved in this. She researches names and activities and enters them into a database. This will form the basis of the web application.

In addition to her professional commitment, the student has also succeeded in bringing a piece of her homeland to Bremerhaven. Last year, she looked after the Nigerian stand at the ‘African Culture Day’. "I attended the event as a visitor the year before and was immediately impressed because it reminded me of my homeland. There was dancing and food – it was really lovely! That's why I got involved myself last time." Together with the rest of the organising team, Ms Matcheu Youmssi planned the decorations, the programme and the food, among other things. She also sang traditional and modern African songs in a choir. She brought photos and traditional clothing for her own stand and told interested visitors more about her home country.

Grace Danielle Matcheu Youmssi was awarded the DAAD Prize not only for her excellent academic achievements, but also for her social commitment. The award ceremony took place, as is tradition, during the graduation ceremony.