The Ukrainian student Dmytro Kovalov has received this year's DAAD Prize of Harz University of Applied Sciences for outstanding academic achievements and extraordinary social commitment. The award is provided by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) with funds from the Federal Foreign Office. The President of Harz University, Prof. Dr. Folker Roland, presented the award, which is endowed with 1,000 euros, together with the International Affairs Officer of the Faculty of Administrative Sciences, Prof. Dr. Isabella Nolte, and Dean Prof. Dr. Thomas Schneidewind.

In addition to a very good grade point average in the dual study programme " Digital Administration/Public Sector IT-Management", the faculty was particularly impressed by the 31-year-old's language skills and modesty. "In conversation, Mr Kovalov told me that he supports refugees from Ukraine in integrating into German society and helps them cope with everyday German life. This information, however, was little more than an aside, which says a lot about our award winner," said Professor Nolte in her laudation.

The student from Odessa came to Germany back in 2015. At that time, he still wanted to study medicine. A voluntary social year at the Evangelische Stiftung Neinstedt and training as a nurse at the Harzklinikum Quedlinburg served as preparation. Even during these stages, Dmytro Kovalov was concerned with digitalisation and IT security. When it became clear that the financial challenges of studying medicine in particular would not be affordable, his educational path tied in with these interests. "The combination of knowledge acquisition at the university and phases at the future employer, the Federal Information Technology Centre, makes the dual study programme the perfect combination," emphasises the award winner.