20 years of MWP - Festive kickoff of the anniversary year at the New Year's reception

With the Max Weber Program (MWP), a unique co­opera­tion be­tween the Free State of Ba­varia and the Studienstif­tung des deutschen Volkes (Ger­man Aca­demic Scholarship Founda­tion) be­gan. Under the um­brella of the Elite Network of Bavaria, the MWP, which is run by the Studien­stiftung, supports well over 1,700 talen­ted stu­dents at Bavarian uni­versities each year.

In 2005, the first 285 schol­arship hold­ers were se­lected, and since then, around 400 stu­dents have been newly ad­mit­ted each year. MWP schol­arship hold­ers re­ceive a se­mes­ter al­low­ance and bene­fit from the pro­grams of­fered by the Studienstif­tung and the Elite Net­work of Ba­varia. To­day, the MWP boasts more than 6,000 alum­ni. For many of them, the New Year's recep­tion is a wel­come op­por­tunity to re­con­nect with old ac­quaintances, make new con­tacts, reflect on the past to­geth­er, and make plans for the fu­ture.

On the occa­sion of the New Year's recep­tion, Sci­ence Minis­ter Markus Blume em­phasized, "Our coun­try needs a new awak­ening and we are count­ing on you to drive us for­ward! We can only solve the major chal­lenges of our time, from digi­taliza­tion and the ener­gy transi­tion to secur­ing peace and pros­perity, through strong coop­era­tion and net­works. As a schol­arship holder of the Max We­ber Pro­gram, you are part of our unique Elite Net­work of Ba­varia and have every­thing you need to ac­tively shape our fu­ture: talent, com­mit­ment and the cour­age to take on re­spon­sibil­ity. Be­come pio­neers and ena­blers of inno­vation and pro­gress in Ba­varia and be­yond – in par­ticular dur­ing this anni­ver­sary year: Ba­varia is count­ing on you!" Rep­re­sent­ing the Minis­try of Sci­ence and the Arts, Head of De­part­ment Dr Jo­han­nes Eberle wel­comed the guests to the New Year's recep­tion at the start of the event.

The President of the Studienstiftung, Pro­fessor Dr Dr h.c. Mi­chael Hoch, ex­pressed his de­light that the Free State of Ba­varia and the Studienstif­tung had suc­cess­fully estab­lished the pro­gram to­geth­er. "I be­lieve that espe­cially in to­day's times – in light of the geo­politi­cal situa­tion and eco­nomic chal­lenges – it is im­portant to sup­port the per­sonal de­velopment of young peo­ple in order to pre­serve de­moc­racy and com­peti­tive­ness." On the MWP's an­nual theme "Drive", he un­der­lined that it is "the pas­sion, the imag­ina­tion, and the inspi­ra­tion" that drive us as hu­mans. In his view, the pro­mo­tion of tal­ented stu­dents ac­tively en­courages young peo­ple to posi­tively trans­form and de­velop socie­ty.

This year's key­note speech was given by Pro­fessor Dr Monika Schnitzer, chair-wom­an of the Council of Eco­nomic Ex­perts and Pro­fessor of Com­para­tive Eco­nomic Re­search at LMU Mu­nich. With her speech "What drives peo­ple: An eco­nomic per­spec­tive and my own per­sonal view", she offi­cially launched the MWP's new annu­al theme. She pre­sent­ed vari­ous eco­nomic ap­proaches that ana­lyze the mech­anisms of incen­tives and ap­peals, there­by high­light­ing the possi­bili­ties and limita­tions of policy coun­sell­ing.

The annu­al theme "Drive" be­came very tangi­ble in an exhi­bition that was set up in the corri­dors of LMU. Visi­tors were able to enjoy a rocket and a me­chani­cal violin known as a sym­pho­nia, both con­structed by stu­dents at the TU Mu­nich, who are sup­port­ed by the Max We­ber Pro­gram.

A large num­ber of MWP schol­arship hold­ers en­sured the suc­cess of the 2025 New Year's recep­tion. Ruth Bau­er, Char­lotte Mack, Jo­seph Scheingra­ber, Sascha Schmaußer, So­phie Schmitt, Paula Sten­gel, Max­imili­an Ulm, Elena Wang and Paul­ine Wit­tig, all of whom partic­ipated in the MWP Music Days 2025, pro­vided the musi­cal ac­com­pani­ment for the event. Aly­sha Campe had even writ­ten a poem on the annu­al theme "Drive", which was pre­sent­ed to the audi­ence dur­ing the event. On the podi­um, Lau­rens Birkenbach, Jana Brade, Isa­bell Pfannmüller and Olga Rybalt, who had con­tributed to the exhi­bition, ex­changed views with Pro­fessor Monika Schnitzer in a pan­el dis­cussion about what drives them per­sonal­ly.

The MWP is taking its 20th anni­ver­sary as an op­por­tunity to de­velop its own mis­sion statement for the first time, which will serve as a com­pass for the inter­nal and exter­nal organ­iza­tion and man­age­ment of the pro­gram. The pro­cess of de­velop­ing this mis­sion statement is orga­nized by the office in col­la­bora­tion with the schol­arship hold­ers and the alum­ni. Using QR codes, all guests of the New Year's recep­tion could an­swer the ques­tion "What does the MWP stand for?". The results will be incor­po­rated into the de­velopment of the mis­sion statement, which will be pre­sent­ed at the 2026 New Year's recep­tion.

Text: Svenja Üing, Max We­ber Program Bavaria