Program for International Education and Social Change
Main Image for The Program for International Education and Social Change (PIESC)

The Program for International Education and Social Change (PIESC)

Bard College Berlin has a scholarship program for students from areas of crisis and conflict - presently 30 students from Syria, Iraq, Palestine, Brazil and Afghanistan. The scholarship enables them to earn a Bachelor degree in the humanities or social sciences, and to become much-needed change agents internationally and/or in their home countries. The PIESC program is completely dependent upon private and institutional donations.

The presence of the PIESC students on our campus has profoundly reshaped the modes and content of teaching and learning at Bard College Berlin. Their experiences and insights inform our curriculum and methodologies and readjust the relationship between the theory of the seminar room and the reality of the outside world. As an educational institution focused on the public good, we aim to translate these paradigm shifts into new perspectives for the rethinking of individual and collective actions and society as a whole.

A video made by the Institute of International Education's Platform for Education in Emergencies Response (https://iiepeer.org/)

About PIESC

  • In Theory
    In 2015 we established the Program for International Education and Social Change (PIESC), a scholarship program that is aimed at young, promising, strong-willed individuals from regions of crisis or conflict. The extreme indignity and ruthlessness that define our times call for a new and resolute generation of citizens who are committed to initiate change – idealistic and impactful change that is targeted toward increasing the communal well-being instead of the individual being well-off.
  • In Practice
    Since 2015, Bard College Berlin has been able to award 55 four-year scholarships to Syrian, Iraqi, Afghan, Palestinian, Greek, Brazilian and Eritrean students. This number makes up ten percent of the total student body of the college. In light of the jarring worldwide figures of displaced people, 55 does seem a negligible number but in comparison to the number of refugees actually entering BA programs either in Europe or abroad, it is a remarkable achievement. The PIESC students enroll in one of the two available curricular tracks and at the end of four years, students who meet the requirements graduate with a dual American and German BA degree.
  • Goals
    The aim of the program is to contribute to a new generation of change agents and multipliers that are needed not only in the regions of crisis where the students originate from, but also in Europe and the “West” at large. We want to educate the future politicians, journalists, teachers, entrepreneurs, artists and intellectuals that are able to act locally in a concentrated and pragmatic way all the while being driven and informed by intercultural and interdisciplinary thinking. Only this mode of thought and action can succeed in translating and mediating between the fronts of our conflict-ridden world.

PIESC Funding

The PIESC program can only exist because of private and institutional philanthropy. Bard College Berlin commits to cover 70% of the tuition balance. The remaining cost of supporting a scholarship is €22,500 per year. A full scholarship covers tuition, room and board, all applicable fees, health care, monthly transport within Berlin, and a fund to cover books and study materials. We ask donors to make a firm pledge for the full duration of a BA program, which equals four years of study.

PIESC Students and Graduates

Aisha Khurram

Aisha Khurram

Afghanistan, BA in Humanities, the Arts, and Social Thought 
"I decided to join BCB not only because it is a safe haven for young students, who have been stripped of their basic human rights, but also for the essential values that are ingrained in its modern method of education."

Read more about Aisha >>

Hesham Moadamani

Hesham Moadamani

Syria, BA in Economics, Politics, and Social Thought ('21)
"As I am one of the very few, among the millions of Syrian refugees, who were displaced and still able to continue higher education, I am very appreciative of the education I am receiving at BCB."

Read more about Hesham>>

Media and Events

Contact Us

Contact Us

Mailing Address: Bard College Berlin, Platanenstrasse 24 , 13156 Berlin Germany
Email: admissions@berlin.bard.edu • Phone: +49 30 43733 0 • Fax: +49 30 43733 100