Education means power
Research and common sense concur: female empowerment starts from education and, in this sense promoting women in those fields of study that are traditionally male reserves is crucial. Bocconi University, a strong believer in the value of female students, has been increasing its commitment year after year: overall, looking at data from first-year undergraduate degrees, one student out of 4 receives some form of financial aid and 44% of the beneficiaries are women. However it is by looking at the scholarships and grants devoted to female students that the University's effort in this direction emerges, thanks also to the increasingly important contribution of Bocconi donors. For the current academic year, 54 scholarships and tuition waivers were allocated for this objective, supported by 20 donors (11 companies and foundations and 9 large individual donors), with the aim of increasing this effort in forthcoming years. And while fundraising continues – here is the link where anyone can donate to the campaign Women in Finance, the project that promotes gender equality in the financial sector through qualified training and tuition remission – it emerges that six of the fourteen named scholarship funds supporting students have the promotion of female empowerment as their aim. They are the Generali Bocconi Women in STEM Awards, the eBay Bocconi Women in Tech Awards, the Donna Javotte Women's Scholarship Fund, the Mastercard Bocconi Women Awards, the OTB Foundation Brave Women Awards, and the Pirelli Women Awards.
In terms of executive education, SDA Bocconi School of Management also focuses on supporting women among its students with a system of subsidies and incentives geared to promoting diversity and inclusion.
"Fostering the possibility of expressing one's individual potential is one of the missions of the University", explains the Dean for Development and Alumni Relations, Antonella Carù. "This task necessarily involves the promotion of gender equality in those areas where the presence of women is low. And thanks also to the support of many donors and the alumni community, Bocconi is translating this commitment into concrete actions".