Shipra Dureja, a student from India, is the recipient of this year's DAAD Award for Outstanding Achievement by Foreign Students, which is sponsored by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) with funding from the German Federal Foreign Office and awarded annually by the University of Magdeburg.

Shipra Dureja began her Master's degree in "Data and Knowledge Engineering" at the University of Magdeburg in 2019. Prior to that, she had completed four years of Computer Science studies in India, and had already worked as a senior development engineer for three years. In September 2021, she completed her Master's degree with a very good grade point average after only 5 semesters, which is making her one of the best and fastest students in her program.

In addition to her studies, the student has also been involved in volunteer work. She was an active member of the Faculty of Computer Science's Academic Club, which provides events and informational material to help international students prepare for a successful graduation and career entry. In the club, she first led the management team and then served as Student Director for about 1 year. In this role, she was a dedicated member of the SI@FIN (Support Internationals@Faculty of Computer Science) project team and actively worked to anchor the Academic Club in the project and develop other components to support international Master's students.

"Ms. Dureja is a very dedicated, inquisitive and intelligent young woman who is an important role model for other international students due to her outstanding student achievements and volunteerism and who we are very pleased to honor with the DAAD Prize 2021," said Dr. Uwe Genetzke from the International Office at Magdeburg University.

The DAAD Prize has been awarded since 1997 to students at Magdeburg University with special academic achievements and remarkable social or intercultural commitment. The prize money is 1,000 euros, and students are nominated by the university's faculties.