Bath Spa University and Santander Universities, the arm of the Spanish banking group that funds students and graduates, have renewed their partnership with for a further three years.
The link-up, now in its sixth year, will provide scholarships and award opportunities to support education, entrepreneurship and employability activities among the university’s 7,000-plus student community, enriching their learning experiences and further enabling graduates to achieve their aspirations.
Funding will go towards helping those supported by the university’s Widening Participation team, helping them participate in mobility and research programmes and take part in life-changing experiences such as overseas opportunities.
Students from all subjects, years and backgrounds will have a chance to benefit from the partnership’s initiatives, such as Santander Universities’ creative CV competition, which awards winners with funding and professional skills development experiences.
Students and graduates will also have the opportunity to apply for seed funding to help with their entrepreneurial ventures.
Among projects funded through the partnership over the past year was Santander Universities’ Entrepreneurship Programme’s backing for four Bath Spa University graduates to take their film production company Onnos Media to new heights.
This helped the team picked up valuable business advice and secure financial backing to visit India as part of their work.
And earlier this year, thanks to Santander Universities support, Bath Spa University created Emerge – its new creative studio, based on its Sion Hill campus.
Emerge has given graduates from across four key areas of the creative industries – art, design, performance and media – the opportunity to become studio residents.
These residencies have provided them with space, support and funding to enable them to develop a successful creative practice in what has been a challenging year.
The renewal of the agreement was marked by Bath Spa University vice-chancellor Prof Sue Rigby and Matt Hutnell, director Santander Universities UK, with an online ceremony on Tuesday.
Prof Rigby said: “I have been delighted to see the positive impact of the opportunities provided to our students and graduates by Santander Universities.
“Strengthening our partnership for a further three years will mean that even more of our learners will benefit, leaving them with experiences and skills to last a lifetime.”
Matt Hutnell added: “Santander is committed to supporting higher education as well as local communities across the UK.
“We are proud to continue our partnership with the Bath Spa University for a further three years and look forward to working together in providing even more opportunities which will benefit both students and the local community over the coming years.”
Santander Universities has invested more than €1.8bn (£1.6bn) in academic initiatives since 2002 and funded 430,000-plus university scholarships and grants since 2005 across 22 countries.
