A current project at Fachhochschule Dortmund demonstrates just how practical a business administration degree can be: This year, six students are organizing the Children and Youth Award, which the “Consul General Manfred O. Schröder and Helga Schröder Children and Youth Foundation” is presenting for the third time.
How can we reach young people who are committed to helping others and thereby strengthening the common good? This is one of the challenges the student project team has been tackling since March. The students, who are enrolled in the Business Administration study program, are in different semesters and successfully applied to the Faculty of Business Studies to participate in the management project, an advanced module offered on a voluntary basis.
Since the kickoff in March, the students have been coordinating the call for entries for the award and promoting it specifically to the target audience: children and young people between the ages of 10 and 21. To this end, they have, for example, established contacts with schools and recreational facilities. For public relations and marketing, they created posters and manage the Instagram account(Opens in a new tab) , which is designed to encourage participation by featuring, among other things, highlights from the previous awards ceremony.
Win-win situation for foundation and students
“Our collaboration with the foundation is a win-win situation,” says Prof. Dr. Jan Christoph Albrecht, who supervises the student project team together with research assistant Jantje Zimmer. “The foundation benefits from the students’ commitment—and the students gain a great deal of practical experience through their work, which is a major benefit. This includes handling everything independently and responsibly and networking both with each other and with external partners.”
The application deadline for the Children’s and Youth Award is September 9, 2026. The students will review the submitted materials and provide counseling to the foundation’s jury. The festive awards ceremony is scheduled for November 6, 2026. The project team is already fine-tuning the program, which will feature laudatory speakers from the worlds of politics and society, while the venue is yet to be determined.
Background
The “ConsulGeneral(Opens in a new tab) Manfred O. Schröder and Helga Schröder” is a legally dependent trust foundation administered by the Dortmund Foundation(Opens in a new tab) to provide funding for education, personal development, and young people’s commitment to the common good. The Children and Youth Award made its debut in 2021 and has been awarded every two years since 2024. The motto is: “Young People Help.” A winning project can receive up to 2,000 euros as a reward. Three prizes will be awarded, with a total prize fund of 4,000 euros. Email contact: kinderjugendpreisdortmund-stiftungde