A Pioneering Collaboration for Today’s Youth

Stavros Niarchos Foundation & Deree

The Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) is a world-leading international philanthropic organization that is dedicated to funding institutions and projects with the aim of achieving a broad, lasting, and positive impact on society at large. In 2014, The American College of Greece received the foundation’s support to establish the SNF Scholarship Program for Parallel Studies at Deree, offering talented students from Greek public universities the opportunity to enroll for a minor at Deree, with a scholarship covering a significant percentage of the tuition.

Already in its second year, the program has surpassed expectations and, since its launch, has impacted the lives of 77 students from 10 Greek public universities.   On Tuesday, May 24, ACG proudly hosted the 2015-2016 Stavros Niarchos Foundation Scholarship Ceremony, to award the program’s 42 currently enrolled scholars, and to offer a certificate of appreciation to the Stavros Niarchos Foundation, accepted on behalf of the foundation by Eleni Agouridi, program coordinator at SNF.

The importance of the program, as President Horner stated in his remarks, is that such initiatives help bridge the gap between public and private institutions in benefit of both the scholar students and the state of education in the country. The program was created to empower the leaders of tomorrow by offering students unique academic opportunities, including exposure to a US-modeled educational system, enhanced proficiency in English, and a wide range of professional and cross-cultural experiences, such as study abroad, local, and international internship programs.

During the ceremony, the scholars’ speeches served as a strong validation of the benefits a combined educational experience can offer, and as a confirmation of the need to further connect the public and private educational spheres. One SNF scholar, Theodora Koutentaki, is soon graduating from the National Kapodistrian University of Athens with a degree in Law, which she chose to complement with a minor in Finance from Deree. She is now busy preparing for her exciting next step of pursuing graduate studies in Law and Finance, at the University of Oxford. “I feel ready for this,” she said. “In part, due to my law studies, but mainly due to Deree because it truly offers a high quality education.”

After spending some time abroad as an Erasmus student at the University of Sheffield, Theodora shared how overwhelmed she felt when she returned to Greece and its current situation. “Coming to Deree opened up my heart again. It is education as it should be. And in today’s Greece, Deree shows me that there is hope.”

“I love the Dream Dare Demand motto” Theodora added, “because Deree really offers all that! I dream, because in this environment I was shown how to make my dreams become a reality; I dare, because with the right challenges and opportunities, I found myself showing initiative and making things happen; and I demand, because if I don’t believe in my dreams and make them happen, who will?”

With the generous support of SNF, this successful program continues to expand, giving even more students the opportunity to broaden their educational experience and to be equipped with the necessary tools to launch meaningful careers.

2014-2016 SNF Scholars Profile:

  • Total SNF Scholars: 77
  • ACG Merit Scholarships: 49 receive 50%, 23 receive 35%,
    and 5 students receive 25%
  • Female: 54, Male: 23
  • Average high school graduation diploma: 19 / 20
  • Average Greek Public University GPA at point of admission to Deree: 7.9 / 10
  • Average Deree GPA Fall Semester: 3.73 / 4.00
  • Training, Networking, Events Attended: over 140
  • Career Placements: 18 (4 full-time jobs – 2 international internships –
    9 local internships/apprenticeship – 3 work-study placements)
  • Career Posts open to SNF: over 633 + 90 work-study positions at ACG

Study Abroad in 7 universities including: Emory Goizueta Business School, Georgia, US; London School of Economics, UK; Kyungpook National University, South Korea; Audencia Business School, France.