Last update: 02/07/2020

Banco Santander is committed to supporting education to help people and businesses prosper. Behind each of the people and businesses that we help lies a story. Here are some of them.
 

Progress on the whole is impossible while there are still people without access to quality education. Education is the engine that drives people’s prosperity. That is why Banco Santander has been collaborating with universities all around the world for over 20 years. We invested €121 million in higher education in 2018 alone, and we have invested €1.7 billion since 2002. We do so through three main lines of action: Education – spearheaded by Santander Scholarships, Entrepreneurship – Santander X, and Employment.

We have helped thousands of people to prosper through these three programmes. And a story lies behind each and every one of these people. To tell some of them, we have created the series "Conversations on Progress: with #PROscholarshiprecipient”, where we will highlight 10 incredible stories of self-improvement, hard work and dedication. 

Majed Andiwi is the star of our first episode. Five years’ ago he had to flee from the war in Syria. Today he is studying film at the Camilo José Cela University on a Santander Integra scholarship and doing an internship with Banco Santander. 

Angélica Partida’s story began when she was little more than 10 years old in Cancún, Mexico, when she realised that it was unusual for a girl so young to have the sort of concerns and interests she had. She started university at just 12 years of age. After a lot of hard work and enthusiasm, and having already completed two undergraduate and one master’s degree, she has now finished her doctorate in nuclear magnetic resonance. 

Brenda Juárez completed her degree in bioprocesses at the Autonomous University of San Luis de Potosí in Mexico with distinction and having designed two biofuels from bacterial strains, she is now embarking on a new adventure: a master’s in biotechnology in The Netherlands.

Nacho Bautista, after completing his degree in Civil and Environmental Engineering at Universidad Alfonso X El Sabio (Spain) and studying a year in the US, decided to set up Fundeen, a crowdfunding campaign for renewable energies, making them the youngest managers ever in Spain to receive authorisation by the Spanish National Securities Market Commission, the CNMV. Their adventure with the Bank started with a Santander CRUE CEPYME scholarship. With Fundeen, they took part in the Santander Explorer Young People with Ideas entrepreneurship programme.

Charles Fotso is the protagonist of a true story of overcoming and began in his native Cameroon. After arriving in Spain in 2005, Charles participated in Santander Summer Experience doing internships in Banco Santander offices in Madrid. This experience gave him strength and helped him to  keep believing in himself and improving every day. Now he has formed a family in Spain and can't imagine his life anywhere else. 

María Jiménez, Héctor Cebolla and Leire Salazar were the winners of the 2nd UNED - Santander Research, Transfer and Dissemination Awards, with a fascinating research project on breast feeding, a fundamental stage in child development and a topic of growing interest in society.

Patricia Aymá, a biotechnologist and environmental engineer, was the winner of Explorer Day – an initiative that is part of the Santander X Explorer programme – for her Venvirotech project. Now her company has received more than two million euros in financing for it to grow and meet its main objective: improving people’s lives through environmental conservation.

The story of Vaisman Borges tells how this young Brazilian arrived in Spain to take advantage of a #BecaSantander “Iberoamérica Grado” scholarship. This scholarship gave Vaisman, a law student, the opportunity to become familiar with a different lifestyle, experience a fascinating cultural immersion and broaden his academic horizons.

Our commitment to higher education has made us the most sustainable bank in the world according to the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index 2019. We were also acknowledged as the company that invests most in higher education worldwide, according to the Fortune 500 Change the World List, produced in collaboration with UNESCO. We are a bank that is committed to education because we understand that it is the best way to bring prosperity for people and businesses.