Santander Scholarships extends its range of female leader scholarships with a new programme, Santander Women | Emerging Leaders Scholarships - LSE, for women in their first years of management. This comes in addition to its renowned Santander Women 50 programme.

125 Santander Scholarships offer the next generation of women aspiring to become leaders the training and tools they need to advance their careers and achieve positions of leadership. 

Applications accepted at www.becas-santander.com until 9 November. 

Madrid, 23 September 2020 – PRESS RELEASE
As explained in its 2019 Diversity and Inclusion Report, Banco Santander remains firmly committed to achieving equal opportunities and pay for women, in addition to leveraging their talent. Women occupy 40% of the seats on its board and there are programmes to empower women and support their role in business. 

The bank's commitment to female leadership is reflected in initiatives such as the one launched via Santander Universities ten years ago: Santander W50 Scholarships, which have been awarded to almost 700 women from 33 countries with between 10 and 20 years of experience in roles with responsibility. This programme provides high-impact training for women to achieve positions in senior management and on boards of directors.

The bank is now extending its range of scholarships with the first online Santander Women | Emerging Leaders Scholarships – LSE, in collaboration with the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), one of the world's most prestigious educational institutions. 

Offering 125 scholarships for young women from around the world, this programme focuses on professional development, leadership capabilities and negotiation skills for the next generation of women aged between 25 and 32 with 5-12 years of professional experience who aspire to become leaders. It addresses the needs of future young female leaders, who first require training to achieve positions of leadership in their careers. 

Javier Roglá, global head of Santander Universities, says “The greatest obstacle for women starting out on their path to senior management is taking the first step. According to key international reports, for every 100 men promoted to senior leadership position, there are only 72 women, who often never move on from this entry level and cannot become leaders. The bank is working to reduce this gender gap with initiatives such as these scholarships, designed to have an influence on the early stages of professional development for tomorrow's female leaders, our Emerging Leaders.”

It provides training, tools and the negotiation skills required to further their careers and succeed in positions of leadership. The programme will be taught in English by LSE teachers and will last seven weeks. 

Professor Connson Locke, Professorial Lecturer in Management and W50 Academic Director, says: “we are delighted to offer the Santander Women | Emerging Leaders Scholarships – LSE in partnership with Santander Universities. This a unique opportunity to build the next generation of female leaders by developing their skills in core competencies such as negotiation and communication. We believe the practical skills, strategies, and tools gained during this course will benefit participants for years to come on their leadership journey.”

Applications for the Santander Women | Emerging Leaders Scholarships – LSE will run until 9 November at www.becas-santander.com

This programme forms part of the more than 1,500 Santander #InvestInYou Scholarships for undergraduates and young professionals and aims to provide them with the solutions and tools they need to boost their job prospects. It will enhance their chances in the job market amid the growing unemployment, especially among young people, and accelerated job market transformation caused by the covid-19 pandemic.

This initiative is part of Banco Santander's EUR 100 million global support plan for tackling covid-19 and the pandemic's negative effects. For education alone, the bank has earmarked EUR 30 million via Santander Universities for promoting research projects into the development of vaccines, medicines and new diagnostic techniques; providing support for students experiencing economic difficulties; and driving the university system's digital transition. 

Banco Santander's commitment to gender equality

As explained in its 2019 Diversity and Inclusion Report, Banco Santander remains firmly committed to achieving equal opportunities and pay for women, in addition to leveraging their talent.  The bank has an equal pay gap of 2% and its goal is to achieve total equal pay by 2025, an effort acknowledged by the Bloomberg Gender-Equality Index 2020, where it ranked third for the third consecutive year. It also became a signatory of the UN's Women's Empowerment Principles in 2019. 

Banco Santander is firmly committed to progress and inclusive, sustainable growth, with a long-standing dedication to higher education that sets it apart from the world's other financial institutions. With over EUR 1,880 million invested in academic initiatives via Santander Universities since 2002 and over 420,000 university scholarships and grants awarded since 2005, it has been recognised as the company that invests the most in education worldwide (Varkey/UNESCO, Fortune 500 Report), with 1,000 agreements with universities and institutions in 22 countries.

About the London School of Economics and Political Science

The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) was founded to know the causes of things, for the betterment of society. The school has an outstanding reputation for its academic excellence and it is one of the most international universities in the world. Its study of social, economic and political problems focuses on the different perspectives and experiences of most countries. From its foundation LSE has aimed to be a laboratory of the social sciences, a place where ideas are developed, analysed, evaluated and disseminated around the globe.

LSE has more than 25 years' experience of open enrolment courses, providing professionals worldwide with a foundation of unified knowledge and critical thinking skills to deeply understand today and shape tomorrow.