French student Emma Leroy has been awarded this year's DAAD Prize of Harz University of Applied Sciences for her outstanding academic achievements and extraordinary commitment, which is provided by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) with funds from the Federal Foreign Office. The award is endowed with 1,000 euros.

The award ceremony took place during the graduation ceremony of the Faculty of Business Studies at the beginning of the winter semester. The student was nominated by Prof. Dr. Sven Groß, coordinator of the Master's degree course in Tourism and Destination Management. In the impressive setting of the Liebfrauen Concert Hall in Wernigerode, the laudator praised not only the award winner's academic achievements but also her intercultural commitment in front of over 400 guests.

The 25-year-old comes from Besançon in eastern France and sees herself as a globetrotter. She is a freelance translator and author of the podcast “Interkulti”, which has already reached several hundred listeners. Each of the 12 episodes deals with a topic from the everyday life of exchange students - including dealing with homesickness or living (in) a (German) shared flat. “With these first-hand reports and practical tips, I want to make it easier for other foreign students to integrate at German universities,” explains the student.

Emma Leroy's Bachelor's degree took her from Colmar/Alsace to Wilhelmshaven. As part of her final thesis, she came across Harz University of Applied Sciences: “While researching the topic of wine tourism, I read publications by Prof. Dr. Axel Dreyer, who taught in Wernigerode for a long time,” she explains. It quickly became clear that a Master's degree in Tourism and Destination Management was the next step. Now the prospective academic is about to submit her Master's thesis on the highly relevant topic of “Generation Z as employees in the hotel industry”.

The future is also all about travel. After feeling very much at home in the Harz Mountains and making friends for life, she plans to return home after graduation. “After that, I want to go on a longer tour through Europe in a van. At the same time, I want to expand my freelance work as a translator with a focus on tourism,” says the globetrotter. It's important to her to enjoy life - and where would that work well? “In the long term, I definitely want to stay in Germany, especially now that I can speak the language properly,” reveals Emma Leroy.