A Donation to Acknowledge Merit and Promote Social Mobility
Ada Bovsunovsky and Francesco Manzieri are the first two recipients of Davide Serra Scholarships, a ten-year student aid program funded by a €1mln donation by Davide Serra, a Bocconi alumnus and founder and CEO of Algebris Investments, a London-based asset management company.
Ada and Francesco, first-year MSc in Finance students, receive a Merit Award consisting of a full tuition waiver and the exemption will be confirmed for the second year, provided that the students maintain the academic requirements.
Ada was born in Ukraine, studied in England and the US, where she obtained a Bachelor in Economics from Boston University. "After an internship at the National Bank of Ukraine, I decided to enroll in a MSc in Finance," she says. "I was accepted by all the six schools I applied to. I didn't want to attend any MSc in Finance, but the best one and Bocconi was my top choice: I compared the programs and I consider Bocconi MSc in Finance the most rigorous. On the one hand, the Merit Award is an honor and an achievement and, on the other, it boosts my motivation."
Francesco was born and studied in Rome. "During high school, I had the opportunity to participate in a Model United Nation and in Boston Consulting Group's program Business@School and I've developed an interest for economics and management," he says. He spent one year of his LUISS' Bachelor in Economics and Business as an exchange student at University of Utrecht, the Netherlands, where he has been a teaching assistant of Mathematics for a short period. "I chose the MSc in Finance because I think it's coherent with my Bachelor – my major was in Finance – and it gives a good preparation for the job market, without constraining you with excessive specialization."
The annual student aid program financed by Davide Serra also includes four partial scholarships (60% waiver) for first-year Bachelor students, renewable for the subsequent two years provided minimum academic progress is met.
Mr. Serra's gift will, thus, support approximately 60 talented and motivated students (20 MSc students and 40 Bachelor students) in ten years. While the Merit Awards selection is based exclusively on academic achievement, the partial scholarships aim to give deserving students a Bocconi education regardless of their background or economic condition, and are awarded based both on merit and the family's financial circumstances.
"I consider my duty, as an entrepreneur who succeeded abroad, to give back to my country and the institution at which I was educated," Mr. Serra says, "and I think that acknowledging both merit and need is the right thing. Merit is always to be awarded, regardless of one's income, but, at the same time, I remember my family's sacrifices to allow me to study at Bocconi and I consider it fair to give a chance to those without sufficient economic means. Bocconi and the way the donation will be allocated strike the right balance between merit recognition and social mobility."