Santander Universities

As the principal sources of knowledge, universities play an ever more important role in today’s knowledge-based society, acting as guides on the path to ever-increasing innovation, and as critical reference points in the quest for fairness and solidarity.

For the last 13 years, Banco Santander has been developing this partnership programme with universities, making it stand out from the other banks and financial institutions in the world. Santander Universities is the only long-term strategic partnership with universities in the world. This partnership is based on the conviction that the best way of contributing to growth and economic and social process is by backing the higher education and research system.

Banco Santander’s commitment to progress finds its expression in the Santander Universities Global Division, whose activities form the backbone of the bank’s social action and enable it to maintain a stable alliance with the academic world in Latin America, China, USA, Spain, Morocoo, Portugal, United Kingdom, and the Russia. Santander Universities Global Division, a team of more than 1,900 professionals distributed across 14 countries, coordinates and manages Banco Santander's commitment to higher education.

Between 1996 and 2008, Banco Santander channelled 600 million euros into sponsorship of academic, research and technological projects in support of higher education. La aportación de Banco Santander a proyectos de colaboración con las universidades sumó 88 millones de euros en 2009.

There are now 800 academic institutions receiving support from Banco Santander for the development of academics initiatives relating to:

1. Pedagogical Projects
   
   
2. Promoting the Spanish language
   
   
3. Mobility grants
   
   
4. Research Programmes
   
   
5. University-Company Relations
   
   
6. New technologies
   
   
7. Global Projects: Universia and the Miguel de Cervantes Virtual Library
   
   
8. Other initiatives: cultural and sporting activities, etc.