Santander Universities supports the QUSTEC international doctoral programme at the European Campus (Eucor)

Mönchengladbach/Freiburg, 24 September 2020.
Under the auspices of its Santander Universities division, Santander is sponsoring interdisciplinary and international training for doctoral candidates within the Quantum Science and Technologies at the European Campus (QUSTEC) programme. Funding totalling EUR 320,000 co-finance five positions for young, up-and-coming research scientists. The remaining backing for the doctoral students will come from European funds and contributions from the participating universities.

"This enables us to bring young researchers from all over the world to the Upper Rhine region to study the complex fundamentals of quantum science and develop future technologies," says Prof. Tobias Schätz, Professor for Experimental Physics at the University of Freiburg and member of the QUSTEC consortium. Examples of possible applications include new, secure communication channels, more precise sensors, new quantum materials or even a prototype for a quantum computer.

"At Santander, we're convinced that international sharing of scientific ideas and information is extremely important. I'm delighted to see our funding give doctoral students from different countries the opportunity to research together and thus benefit from one other," notes Fernando Silva, member of the board of Santander Deutschland.

"I'm very pleased at the support afforded our next generation of scientists. The structured QUSTEC programme allows them to spend four years in study and research projects that cover all the main fields of quantum science," exclaims Professor Hans-Jochen Schiewer, President of Eucor – The European Campus, and Rector of the University of Freiburg.

The doctoral student programme operated by Eucor – The European Campus enables a total of 39 young scientists to graduate in this emerging field of research. The participating institutions are the Universities of Basel, Freiburg and Strasbourg, the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, the Walther-Meissner-Institute for Low Temperature Research in Garching near Munich, and the Research Department of the IBM IT company in Zurich, Switzerland. The project will run for five years, financed by with a total funding volume of EUR 9.1 million. QUSTEC already receives EUR 4.2 million through funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 Marie Skłodowska Curie COFUND programme. 

Ranked the corporate Group with the highest investment in education worldwide by Global Fortune 500 based on a study by the Varkey Foundation and UNESCO, Santander has been working with universities around the world for more than 20 years to promote education, entrepreneurship and employability as the basis for inclusive and sustainable growth. Santander currently has over 1,000 arrangements with universities and institutions in 33 different countries.