News item | 07-12-2022 | 11:35
Minister Dijkgraaf (OCW) announced the winners of the ECHO Awards on Tuesday 6 December. Students Khalid El Haji, Parwana Rezai, Naznin Musa and Dina Bousbaa should this award for excellence, non-western talentreceive n. The four winners may follow a fully catered Summer Course at UCLA in the United States.
The ECHO Award is an initiative of ECHO, Expertise Center for Diversity Policy, and celebrated its 22nd anniversary this year.st edition. ECHO Award offers a platform to students with a non-Western background who try to contribute to a more inclusive society.
ECHO Award Winners
This year, 35 candidates were nominated by universities of applied sciences and universities throughout the Netherlands. An independent jury with representatives from education and business selected 15 finalists. Four of them were declared winners. They distinguish themselves because of their innovation in thinking and acting, organizational capacity, contribution to social impact and their role as ‘critical friend’. This means that the student knows how to formulate constructive criticism about issues related to exclusion and also think about constructive solutions.
Winner ECHO Award HBO
Naznin Musa – Student commercial economics at the Hogeschool van Amsterdam.
Among other things, Naznin puts (silent) poverty among young people on the agenda and attention for young carers who are studying.
Winner ECHO Award Wed
Dina Bousbaa – Medical student at the Free University, Amsterdam.
Dina is also active at Diversion, where she collaborates with people from the Jewish and LGBTQ+ community.
Winner Beta Technology Award
Khalid el Haji – Computer Science student at Delft University of Technology.
Among other things, Khalid contributed to the design of a university-wide student diversity survey.
Winner Loyens & Loeff Law & Tax Award
Parwana Rezai – Student Crisis and Security Management at Leiden University.
Parwana has set up social media campaigns in the Netherlands to raise awareness about the situation of Afghan refugees. She is also a board member for the ‘Girl Up’ movement in Afghanistan.
Click here to view the full jury report and see who the jury members are.
Quote from minister Dijkgraaf: “It’s fantastic to see how these students offer a positive counterpoint to the social debate about diversity in society. The Echo Awards are a justified reward and incentive”.
About the ECHO Award
The ECHO Award is an initiative that recognizes the importance of investing in and recognizing excellent talent from society. The presentation of the ECHO Award is made possible by colleges and universities that nominate their non-Western talents from various faculties. The ECHO Award is an initiative of the public and private sector and is made possible by the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science, Loyens & Loeff, the Dutch Railways and Boston Consulting Group.