The bank allocated €119 million to support higher education last year, part of its more than €1.8 billion investment in this area since 2002

Since 2005, more than 430,000 Santander Scholarships have been awarded to support the talent of young people as well as equal opportunities and inclusion

Madrid, 11 March 2019. Education, entrepreneurship and employment are the three pillars of Banco Santander's support for higher education, and serve as the cornerstones of inclusive, sustainable growth. This support has materialised through Santander Universities, setting Santander apart from other banking entities and helping position it as a leader in responsible banking.

This effort, which Santander has been carrying out for 23 years in collaboration with one thousand universities and academic institutions in 22 countries, translated last year into the awarding of 68,671 Santander Scholarships, with an investment of €119 million. 

More than 30,600 of these grants were for education, more than 18,700 for university entrepreneurs and more than 19,200 for internships and other programmes to boost employment.

Banco Santander's scholarship programmes are among the largest private-entity-backed initiatives of this type, as Santander has earmarked more than €1.8 million for education since 2002 and awarded more than 430,000 scholarships since 2005.

Scholarships and social progress

The scholarship programmes backed by Santander aim to help people, businesses and society prosper by fostering talent, promoting equal opportunities, inclusion, diversity and sustainable growth, and improving the training and skills of university students in an increasingly digitalised, globalised and ever-changing environment.

The various Santander Scholarship programmes foster access to education on the basis of equality and inclusion; promote national and international mobility of students, researchers and teachers so as to facilitate internships at companies; and encourage transversal as well as digital skills and entrepreneurship through training in such multidisciplinary areas as leadership, communication and digital training.

Banco Santander is firmly committed to progress and to inclusive and sustainable growth through its unstinting efforts in favour of higher education, which set it apart from other financial institutions in the world. With more than €1.8 billion earmarked for academic initiatives since 2002 through Santander Universities and more than 430,000 university scholarships and grants awarded since 2005, it has been recognised as the world's largest investor in education (Varkey Report / UNESCO / Fortune 500). In addition, Santander has one thousand agreements with universities and institutions in 22 countries.