Santander has doubled the financial firepower it commits to the University of Sunderland each year, signing a renewed partnership agreement that will channel £100,000 annually into scholarships, bursaries and start-up grants until the 2026-2027 academic year.
The deal builds on a near eight-year relationship that has already supported hundreds of Sunderland students.
Under the new arrangement, Sunderland will distribute ten £1,000 Brighter Futures Awards to ease day-to-day financial pressure on undergraduates, alongside six £5,000 Education Awards to cover tuition fees, course materials and accommodation. A further 120 £250 Employability Awards will help students meet the unexpected costs that come with launching a career. Six £5,000 Entrepreneurship Awards complete the package, open to students, staff and graduates seeking to grow fledgling businesses.
All Sunderland students, graduates and staff will also gain access to Santander Open Academy, the bank’s free global e-learning platform offering online courses, grants and expert-led content.
Sir David Bell, the University’s Vice-Chancellor, said: Our partnership with Santander Universities has been running for nearly eight years and has brought immense benefit to students and staff alike. These new awards will provide the next generation of Sunderland’s most talented people with the opportunity to achieve even greater success in the future.
For Santander, the Sunderland tie-up is part of a far larger global education programme that has assisted nearly 8.3 million people and businesses over the past three decades. The bank has invested more than €2.5 billion through collaboration agreements with over 1,000 universities and institutions across 13 countries.
Jonathan Powell, Santander UK’s National Partnerships Director, said: At Santander we believe strongly in the power of collaboration, and that has been strongly evident in our partnership with Sunderland. This new agreement provides more opportunities for people to prosper through our support of education, employability and entrepreneurship.
The impact on individual recipients is already visible. Among the students recently presented with £60,000 of Santander Education and Entrepreneurship awards was Kirsty Knott, a 2010 Business and Financial Management graduate, who used a £5,000 Entrepreneurship Award to develop Expansions Coaching, a podcast and emerging events business.
Kieran Harley, 25, a first-year Electronic and Electrical Engineering student, was awarded one of six £5,000 Santander Education Awards. As a carer for his mother who also works part-time, he said the funding would directly translate into reduced working hours and more time to focus on his degree.
For Sunderland, the doubling of Santander’s commitment is a welcome counterweight to a sector grappling with frozen tuition fee income, falling international student numbers and rising operating costs.