MOME supports disadvantaged students and dedicated secondary school teachers

Date: 2025.02.20
Almost 100 applicants have enrolled in the ‘Tomorrow Belongs to You – For the Creative Talents of the Future 2025’ scholarship programme of the Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design (MOME). The candidates were personally interviewed at several regional locations, as well as in Budapest, and the 18 high school students from disadvantaged backgrounds – the programme's second cohort – have already begun their creative training at the MOME Campus. This year, for the first time, the initiative also includes a scholarship programme for teachers, involving 14 secondary school teachers who use a creative approach for teaching receiving regular financial and professional support from the university.

Launched in autumn 2023 as part of a collaboration between the university and the foundation maintaining it, the ‘Tomorrow Belongs to You’ scholarship programme aims to create opportunities for talented, disadvantaged secondary school students from rural areas to build careers in the creative industries and pursue creative higher education. The initiative offers professional and mental support to the students to help them prepare for the admission entrance examination of art higher education institutions. The 2025 scholarship students come from the country’s most disadvantaged regions and visited the MOME campus for the first time on 7 February 2025, marking the start of their preparatory programme. During their first weekend, the university welcomed them with a campus tour, workshop presentations, a joint lunch, a skill development course, and a get-to-know-you session for the mentors and mentees. The weekend concluded with a city tour of Budapest on Sunday. 

"Most of the students who are accepted to MOME come from privileged family backgrounds. That's why I think it's very important to give talented students from disadvantaged backgrounds who might not be able to reach the entrance exam stage on their own a chance to do so”, explains MOME Animation student Sára Ulrich, who has been involved as a mentor since the programme's inception. “A mentor is a bit like an older sibling, as my mentee put it last year. We didn't just discuss professional matters, but many personal issues as well, and over time our relationship grew into a close friendship”, she adds.

Recognising that the key to the programme's effectiveness lies in involving dedicated teachers who not only motivate but also offer practical advice to help young people unlock their talents, MOME launched a scholarship programme for teachers last year, designed to support teachers across the country to guide their students towards further education with enthusiasm and creative methods. The scholarship provides monthly financial support, professional training, travel contributions, education development tools, and knowledge-sharing platforms for participants, while enabling teachers to become part of an inspiring community where they can collaborate on workshops to develop methods for creating opportunities for disadvantaged young people. 

Nearly 60 teachers from all over Hungary applied, from cities such as Nyíregyháza, Miskolc, Békéscsaba, Pécs, Szolnok, Debrecen, Nádudvar, Baja, and Zalaegerszeg. Important criteria in the evaluation process included community orientation, proactivity, and dedication, as well as a passion for experimenting with creative teaching methods. 

The 14 selected teachers include not only those from the arts but also those teaching subjects such as mathematics, physics, Hungarian language and literature, and tourism studies. 

The selection of students was made by an expert team, comprising certified therapist, talent management professional Éva Gyarmathy, product designer Pál Koós, philosopher, literary author, associate professor at MOME and head of the student mentoring programme Eszter Babarczy, doctoral student and former scholarship recipient of the MCC Roma Talent Programme Renáta Rontó, group lead for upward convergence at the Hungarian Interchurch Aid Anett Jákfalvi, and professional consultant for the programme and General Manager of the National Talent Center Dóra Sándor-Kovács. The teachers were interviewed by a three-member committee consisting of associate professor and teacher Tamás Berky, teacher and MA programme coordinator Dr. Anna Keszeg Phd. Habil, and associate professor Péter Vető, DLA.

Information about the ‘Tomorrow Belongs to You’ scholarship programmes is available at https://mome.hu/en/tiedaholnap.

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