Bayer AG, AUW partners to support women’s education in Asia

Bayer will fund the university education of sixteen AUW students through the Bayer Scholarship Programme

Asian University for Women (AUW) and Bayer AG have announced that Bayer will fund the university education of sixteen AUW students through the Bayer Scholarship Programme. Bayer is pledging $675,000 to the programme. The scholarships will cover two years of precollegiate study and the first year of AUW’s three-year undergraduate degree programme and will run from August 2022 – to July 2025. Bayer will also provide internships to sixteen AUW students who hold an interest in agribusiness. 

Nine of the sixteen Bayer Scholars will be selected by AUW from the rural farming communities of Bangladesh, and seven will be selected from other smallholder farming communities in South and Southeast Asia. Bayer will amplify the scholarship programme and actively promote this education opportunity through its field force network in South Asia, which serves as a trusted partner to many rural farming families. Recipients of this scholarship are selected from rural farming communities based on their academic excellence, demonstrated leadership, outrage at injustice, and drive to create change in their communities and beyond. 

Monika Lessl, Senior Vice President Corporate R&D and Social Innovation and Executive Director of Bayer Foundation: “At Bayer, we are constantly working towards creating a world where everyone has access to essential services – be it health, nutrition or education. A key step in achieving this goal, is to bridge the gender gap in education. Hence, we are delighted to support women students pursuing higher education at the Asian University for women through our scholarship program and hope that these women students will not only transform their lives through education but also serve as a beacon of hope to other women students in their communities.” 

With limited social networks and other services, as well as an absence of economic empowerment opportunities, the cycle of entrapment in traditional mores becomes inescapable. It is this cycle that Bayer and AUW would like to break through their ground breaking partnership. The Bayer Scholarship Programme will foster women’s empowerment among marginalised, rural agricultural communities in Bangladesh and across Asia.  

Bayer will fund the university education of