The University of Oxford and Abbey National plc, Santander’s UK subsidiary, have today signed a 3-year agreement that will create support for scholarships and research.
Santander Universities, an international scheme which already supports 575 universities in Spain, America, Portugal and the United Kingdom, will set up postgraduate scholarships, awards for academic travel, and research into corporate reputation.
At least eight scholarships per year will be for postgraduate students from the 10 countries in the Santander’s network (comprising Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Uruguay, Venezuela, Spain and Portugal). They are likely to be for students on one-year master courses, but not limited to any particular subjects.
In addition, a fund is being created to support postgraduate students of whatever nationality in academic travel to countries within Santander Universities’ network, to attend conferences, collaborate with other universities, or carry out fieldwork.
Abbey will also support research at Oxford University’s new Centre for Corporate Reputation, based in the Saїd Business School.
The Vice-Chancellor of the University of Oxford, Dr John Hood said: ‘There are many areas of mutual interest between Santander and Oxford and we are grateful for the support that the Group has pledged for our postgraduates and our research. We look forward to working together on other initiatives, such as ways to improve banking support to our international students.’
António Horta-Osório, Abbey’s CEO, said: ‘We are delighted to welcome the University of Oxford, one of the most prestigious in the world, into our existing Santander Universities scheme and look forward to working collaboratively for the benefit of students and scholars.’
For further information, please contact Barbara Hott in the Oxford University Press Office on +44(0) 1865 280531, or Louisa Dreja, Abbey Media Relations, on + 44 (0) 20 7756 4211.
Notes to editors
Information about Santander Universities.
Santander Universities, pioneered by Santander, one of the largest financial groups in the world, is a scheme which establishes various spheres of collaboration including teaching and research, international cooperation, transfer of knowledge and technology, and new technologies, among others.
Since 1996, when it was created, Santander Universities has been the keystone of Santander’s Corporate Social Responsibility policies. Santander Universities Global Division has signed co-operation agreements with 575 universities in Spain, America - in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Uruguay and Venezuela -, Portugal, Russia and the United Kingdom. In the period 1996-2006, Santander has given 400 million euros to this programme.
Santander gives more support to the university community than any other bank in the world, with initiatives such as:
- granting over 10,000 scholarships each year to promote study, research and initial professional work experience
- aid to 2,000 research groups and direct financing of 40 scientific research and humanities projects,
- 16 science and technology parks in different countries,
- 17 corporate incubation projects in five different countries,
- Santander has issued 2.8 million university smart cards in 173 universities, with a high level of functional and financial features for teachers and students,
- supporting Miguel de Cervantes Virtual Library (http://www.cervantesvirtual.com/), the largest of its kind for Hispanic works. Its website in Spanish is the most visited in the world (almost 450 million pages since 1999),
- supporting Universia (http://www.universia.net/), the biggest university co-operation network in existence, that now includes 1,056 universities.
Information about graduate study at Oxford University
- There are almost 20,000 students at Oxford, including 12,106 undergraduates and 7,380 postgraduates.
- Oxford graduates are among the most employable in the UK: our employment rate is above average at 94.4 per cent compared with 93.2 per cent nationally.
- Each year the University receives some 12,000 applications for postgraduate study.
- More graduates than undergraduates are now admitted to the University each year, and graduates make up 37 per cent of the total student body.
- 63 per cent of graduate students at Oxford are from outside the UK.
