Santander Erasmus Scholarships of up to EUR 3,200 will be granted to top-performing students and will consider the most disadvantaged socio-economic situations.The Bank is funding the programme's second edition with EUR two million and remains committed to granting 20,000 scholarships in Spain for this school year.

Madrid, 2 December 2019 – PRESS RELEASE 
The Group executive chairman of Banco Santander and chair of Universia, Ana Botín, and the chairman of Crue Universidades Españolas, José Carlos Gómez, have signed an agreement this morning to promote the second edition of Santander Erasmus Scholarships with the support of the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities. The main goal is to drive equal opportunities and inclusion and acknowledge students' academic excellence. The agreement was signed after a meeting of the board of directors of Universia Spain, which was attended by rectors from all Spanish universities.

The Santander Erasmus Scholarship programme's second edition will have financing of almost EUR 2 million for awarding 5,152 scholarships and grants of EUR 3,200, EUR 500 and EUR 150 to young people wishing to study at a European Union school and do international internships. More than 27,000 applications were received during the first edition of this scholarship programme.

The universities themselves select the beneficiaries following criteria of academic excellence and vulnerability status: marginalised environments and recognised disabilities of over 33%.

Santander Erasmus Scholarships will be distributed as follows:

• 152 scholarships of EUR 3,200 each, of which 76 will be for students with a proven disability equal to or greater than 33%.
• 2,000 scholarships of EUR 500.
• 3,000 grants worth EUR 150.

For the two last categories and new this year, priority will be given to students with duly accredited specific educational support needs or special educational needs, such as dyslexia, dysgraphia, dysorthography or dyscalculia.

During the signing the agreement, Ana Botín, Group executive chairman of Banco Santander and chair of Universia, reiterated Banco Santander's commitment to higher education and underlined her conviction that, "We must promote open higher education, which encourages universal values, tolerance and social inclusion and educates university students for the jobs of today and of tomorrow. This programme is a great example of how to drive equal opportunities and academic excellence, because excellence must be inclusive and contribute to the interests of the general public and to equity."

The chairman of Crue Universidades Españolas, José Carlos Gómez, explained that, "This agreement we've signed today with Banco Santander reinforces Crue Universidades Españolas' commitment to increasing international mobility options for our university students and providing them with better tools to cope in an increasingly global world. In addition to increasing the skills and capabilities of students, this programme helps favour educational inclusion and equal opportunities."

Young people who would like to apply for a Santander Erasmus Scholarship can do so on the www.becas-santander.com platform until 16 March 2020.

The EU Erasmus+ Programme, managed in the areas of education and training by the Spanish Service for the Internationalisation of Education (SEPIE), attached to the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, has been running for 32 years and has benefited more than 600,000 university students in our country. In Spain, more than 100,000 university students apply for Erasmus+ scholarships every year – in relation to both study and internships – and about 50,000 of these applications are successful.

20,000 Santander Scholarships in Spain and more than 73,000 all around the world

The more than 5,100 scholarships that will be awarded through Santander Erasmus form part of the 20,000 scholarships and grants that the entity will award in Spain during the 2019/2020 academic year via Santander Universities and in collaboration with the country's public and private universities and other institutions.

Specifically, the entity will award over 13,500 scholarships for undergraduate and postgraduate studies, university access, research and international mobility, more than 4,500 to help improve student's employability for entry into the job market, and over 2,000 to support and promote university entrepreneurship.

On a global level, Banco Santander awarded more than 73,000 study grants and scholarships last year in the various countries where it has operations, with financing of EUR 121 million.

Banco Santander is the only European bank in the 2018 "Change the World" ranking of businesses that are helping to make the world a better place (Fortune magazine) through its positive impact on the community, among other aspects. According to the Varkey/UNESCO-Fortune 500 report, Santander is the private company that invests the most in education in the entire world, with 1,200 partnership agreements with universities and institutions in more than 20 countries and more than EUR 1,700 million invested in academic initiatives since 2002.