New scholarship programme forged between Imperial College London and Abbey-Santander

New agreement to encourage Iberamerican students to study in the UK - News

Thursday 23 April 2009
By Naomi Weston

Students from Spain, Portugal and Latin America will have the opportunity to study for a Masters at Imperial College London after a new partnership was forged on Monday 20 April between Abbey, part of the Santander group, and the College.

The new three year agreement sees Imperial join the Santander Universities network, which provides scholarships and other funding to universities across the world with the aim of encouraging students from the UK and Iberamerican countries to study abroad and feed what they have learnt back to their home country to enhance its economic growth and cultural development.

The agreement with Imperial provides funding over a three year period. This will include six mobility scholarships for Master’s students from Iberamerican countries to study in the UK every year, as well as five scholarships for Imperial College London students to study in these countries.

The scholarships will start in October 2009 and include all Masters courses at Imperial.

Rector, Sir Roy Anderson, and Chief Executive of Abbey, Antonio Horta-Osorio

There is a particular focus on entrepreneurship in the agreement with two awards for Excellence in Enterprise and Entrepreneurship for students at Imperial and support for a business incubator space at the College.

Rector of Imperial College London Sir Roy Anderson signed the agreement with António Horta-Osório, Abbey’s Chief Executive. Sir Roy said:

"This new agreement marks the beginning of a strong ongoing relationship between our two organisations. An educated population is the greatest resource a country can possess and it is the key to the health and prosperity not just of individuals but of nations as a whole. It is wonderful to see Santander taking such an interest in education and making it possible for talented young people to learn at some of the world’s best universities.

"I’m particularly pleased that this funding from Santander includes a strong emphasis on entrepreneurship. An important part of science, technology and medicine learning and research is what you do with the knowledge you have gained. The world faces great challenges which the scientific disciplines will be key to solving, so it is vital to ensure that we are giving today’s students the skills and knowledge they will require to deal with the problems previous generations have bequeathed them."

António Horta-Osório added:

“Our collaboration with UK universities is very important for us. We think that investing in education is the best way to promote the development and prosperity of society.

“We believe that these initiatives agreed with Imperial are effective ways of contributing to international mobility of students and to encourage them to strive for excellence in their studies and research.”

Santander Universities has signed agreements with over 700 universities globally including over 30 in the UK. For more information please visit: Santander Universities

For more information about the new scholarships and funding please email scholarships@imperial.ac.uk