Santander Doubles University of Sunderland Funding of £100,000 per year
Santander has doubled its firepower at the University of Sunderland each year, signing a renewed partnership agreement that will see £100,000 annually in scholarships, bursaries and start-up grants until the 2026-2027 academic year.
The deal, agreed between the Spanish high street lender and one of the North East’s biggest universities, builds on a close eight-year partnership that has already supported hundreds of Sunderland students. For Santander, it represents an additional bet on the region’s higher education sector at a time when many universities are tightening their belts due to growing financial pressure.
Under the new scheme, Sunderland will distribute ten £1,000 Brighter Futures Awards to ease the day-to-day financial stress of undergraduates, and six £5,000 Education Awards to cover tuition fees, study materials and accommodation. A further 120 £250 Employment Awards will help students meet the unexpected costs that come with landing a job, from interview travel to essential supplies. Six Entrepreneurship Awards worth £5,000 complete the package, open to students, staff and graduates looking to grow new businesses.
All Sunderland students, graduates and staff will also gain access to the Santander Open Academy, the bank’s free global e-learning platform offering online courses, grants and expert-led content designed to align students with the skills currently in demand across the labor market.
Sir David Bell, the University’s Vice-Chancellor and Chief Executive, sealed the deal alongside Santander UK’s National Partnerships Director, Jonathan Powell.
“Our partnership with the Universities of Santander has been going on for almost eight years and has brought great benefits to students and staff alike,” said Sir David. “These new awards will give the next generation of Sunderland’s most talented people the opportunity to achieve great success in the future.
For Santander, the Sunderland tie-up is part of the largest global education program that has helped nearly 8.3 million people and businesses over the past three decades. The bank has invested more than €2.5 billion through partnership agreements with more than 1,000 universities and institutions in 13 countries, with £115 million committed to UK university partnerships alone since 2007.
Mr Powell said the renewed agreement reflected an unusually productive working relationship. “At Santander we strongly believe in the power of partnership, and that has been very evident in our relationship with Sunderland. This new agreement provides more opportunities for people to succeed through our support for education, employment and business.”
The bank’s commercial concept is as much about brand visibility on UK campuses as it is about community service. As competition for graduate banks increases and customer acquisition costs rise, a continued presence at universities gives Santander a path to the next generation of current account holders, mortgage lenders and small business banking customers.
The impact on individual recipients is already evident. Among the twelve students recently presented with £60,000 Santander Education and Entrepreneurship awards was Kirsty Knott, who graduated in Business and Financial Management in 2010 from Ryton, who used the £5,000 Entrepreneurship Award to develop Expansions Coaching, the budding podcast and events business she runs with her husband Anth. The business is preparing to introduce face-to-face communication with Crack on Club, a small business meeting at Twenty Twenty Bar in Newcastle from 14 May.
Kieran Harley, 25, a first-year Electronic and Electrical Engineering student at Sunderland, has been awarded one of the £5,000 Santander Education Awards. As a part-time carer for her mother, she said the funding will translate directly into reduced working hours and more time to focus on her studies.
“My long-term goal is to work in the renewable energy sector, and winning the award will make a huge difference in my studies,” he said. “The Santander Education Award will allow me to reduce my working hours, give me more time and flexibility to focus on my studies, and better support my mother.”
For Sunderland, which has built a reputation for increasing the participation of students from non-traditional backgrounds, the doubling of Santander’s commitment is a welcome relief for a sector facing frozen tuition fees, declining international student numbers and rising operating costs. With more than half of UK universities now reporting deficits, corporate partnerships of this scale are increasingly focused on balancing books – and keeping the door open to students who would otherwise struggle to fund their studies.
