Santander has doubled the financial firepower it provides 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, agreed between the Spanish lender and one of the North East’s largest universities, builds on a nearly eight-year relationship that has already supported hundreds of Sunderland students. For Santander, it is another bet on the regional higher education sector at a time when many universities are tightening their belts due to increasing financial pressures.
Under the new agreement, Sunderland will award ten Brighter Futures Awards worth £1,000 to help ease everyday financial pressures on students, as well as six Education Awards worth £5,000 to cover tuition fees, course materials and accommodation. A further 120 Employability Awards worth £250 will help students cover the unexpected costs that come with starting a career, from interview travel to essential internship costs. Six £5,000 Entrepreneurship Awards complete the package and are open to students, staff and graduates looking to build young businesses.
All Sunderland students, graduates and employees will also have access to the Santander Open Academy, the bank’s free global e-learning platform, which offers online courses, scholarships and expert-led content to equip learners with skills currently in demand in the job market.
Sir David Bell, vice-chancellor and chief executive of the university, sealed the agreement alongside Jonathan Powell, director of national partnerships for Santander UK.
“Our partnership with Santander Universities has existed for almost eight years and has delivered huge benefits for both students and staff,” said Sir David. “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. I am extremely grateful to Santander Universities for the continued trust and confidence they have placed in our university.”
For Santander, the connection with Sunderland is part of a much larger global education program that has supported almost 8.3 million people and businesses over the last three decades. The bank has invested more than €2.5 billion through collaboration agreements with over 1,000 universities and institutions in 13 countries, with £115 million committed to UK university partnerships alone since 2007.
Mr Powell said the renewed contract reflected an unusually productive working relationship. “At Santander we believe strongly in the power of collaboration and this has been clearly demonstrated in our partnership with Sunderland. This new agreement offers people more opportunities to prosper through our support of education, employability and entrepreneurship.”
The bank’s business logic relies on both brand visibility in UK universities and corporate philanthropy. Given the fierce competition in graduate banking and the rising cost of customer acquisition, sustained presence at universities provides Santander with the path to reaching a generation of future current account holders, mortgage borrowers and small business banking customers.
The effects on individual recipients are already visible. Among the dozen students recently recognized with £60,000 Santander Education and Entrepreneurship Awards was Kirsty Knott, a 2010 business and financial management graduate from Ryton who, with a £5,000 Entrepreneurship Award, set up Expansions Coaching, a podcast and emerging events business which she runs with her husband Anth. The company is preparing to launch in-person networking from May 14 at Crack on Club, a small business gathering at Twenty Twenty Bar in Newcastle.
Kieran Harley, 25, a first year electrical engineering student from Sunderland, was awarded one of six Santander Education Awards worth £5,000. As a carer for his mother, who also works part-time, he said the funding would directly translate into a reduction in working hours and more time to focus on his studies.
“My long-term goal is to work in the renewable energy sector and winning the prize will make a big difference to my studies,” he said. “The Santander Education Award allows me to reduce my working hours, giving me more time and flexibility to focus on my studies and better support my mother.”
For Sunderland, which has built a reputation for expanding participation among students from non-traditional backgrounds, Santander’s doubling of commitment is a welcome counterbalance to a sector struggling with frozen tuition revenue, falling international student numbers and rising operating costs. With more than half of UK universities now running deficits, corporate partnerships of this magnitude are becoming increasingly important to balance the books – and to keep the door open for students who would otherwise struggle to finance their studies.
