Scholl, who, after elementary school, went to a lower secondary school where both parents and teachers felt he was in good hands, partly also because of the many familiar faces from his home region, recalls, “I had a good time there, but we were told: ‘You’re at a lower secondary school: If you don’t work hard, nothing will come of you anyway.’” However, Peer Scholl is not someone who lets himself be intimidated or discouraged by such things. “I took it as a challenge.” He graduated from high school with a General Certificate of Secondary Education and, after completing his training as a foreign language assistant, fulfilled a long-cherished dream with a several-month stay abroad in Scotland. “That was a groundbreaking time for me, during which I was able to broaden my horizons and, through my work in the hotel restaurant business, meet many people from all over the world.” Shaped by this experience, the then 19-year-old decided upon his return in 2010 that a traditional office job was not an option for him. Instead, he was drawn to a city with an international flair.
From the open seas to university
Berlin turned out to be the starting point for a whole series of changes for the young man, which were unplanned but very valuable in their own right. He successfully earned his higher education entrance qualification at Berlin-Kolleg and remains deeply grateful to the teachers from that time. “That school was a stroke of luck for me. It was the first time anyone had encouraged me and shown me my potential. The idea that I could study at university would never have occurred to me before.”
But even with his higher education entrance qualification in hand, the path to university was still long, because financially, it wasn’t an easy decision for Scholl, who always worked on the side to make ends meet. For this reason, the high school graduate in his mid-20s found himself not in a lecture hall but on cruise ships. “Not only did I meet my future wife and many international friends here: The years on the ships and communicating with guests from all over the world were the critical factors in my decision to study German as a Foreign Language and to realize that I wanted to teach.” After completing his bachelor’s degree at Freie Universität Berlin, he eventually got the recommendation to study in the master’s program “Linguistics in Context” at the University of Potsdam.
From a university scholarship to a think tank
This recommendation, too, would prove to be the right one. Scholl, now a father himself, initially didn’t even consider applying for a scholarship for his master’s degree. Like many others, he automatically associated funding for programs such as the university scholarship with academic excellence, which could not have been a priority for him given his young child, daily family life, and his volunteer work on the student council. However, he was not immediately aware that a student’s research interest could also be a criterion for being selected for a think tank. But since he was drawn to the idea of participating in think tanks as part of the scholarship, and because the university scholarship also takes social criteria into account, he ultimately applied for and was awarded a scholarship. Today, as a scholarship recipient, he conducts research together with other students in the “Think Tank on Language Worlds in Schools.” “The decisive factor for me was the connection between linguistics and inclusive education. Since I started my studies, I have repeatedly realized how important it is to contribute to research from a different perspective, because one’s own and the family experiences of migration or a non-academic background broaden the view on educational issues and the institution school, yet are rarely expressed in an academic context. The think tank is the ideal place for exactly that. Here, opportunities arise for students to make their voices heard in academic discourse, for example through publications.”
Both the “Denkwerkstätten” and the “Denkfabriken” are established with a specific goal in mind. The “Think Tank on Language Worlds in Schools” aims to develop a toolkit for multilingual instruction for prospective teachers, so they can better navigate the professional realities of displacement, migration, and diversity they encounter in the classroom. That is also what the scholarship recipient particularly likes about the concept: “There’s plenty of room for creative interpretation here. It was clear to me from the very beginning that I as a student wanted to conduct research there and write my master’s thesis. Research work is exactly my thing. And looking back on the start of my educational career, that was really unforeseeable.” So it’s no surprise that Peer Scholl already firmly focuses on his next goal: a Ph.D.
The University Scholarship Potsdam is funded as part of the Germany Scholarship program of the German Federal Ministry of Research and Education and through donations. Students receive 300 euros per month for a period of at least one year. The “Denkwerkstätten” and “Denkfabriken” are innovative formats developed by the University of Potsdam as part of its Germany Scholarship program. Would you like to support students like Peer Scholl? Then please donate to the University Scholarship!
More information and contact:
Marianna Bähnisch: 0331 977-153073
Email: stipendiumuunipotsdampde.
More about the “Think Tank; Language Worlds in Schools”: https://www.uni-potsdam.de/de/universitaetsstipendium/usp-denkfabriken/denkwerkstatt-sprachenwelten
This article appeared in the university magazine Portal - Eins 2026 „Inklusion“.
*A "Hauptschule" (general school) is a secondary school in Germany, starting after 4 years of elementary schooling, which offers Lower Secondary Education (Level 2) according to the International Standard Classification of Education.