Santander Universities – the division that oversees the bank’s commitment to higher education – offers scholarships and awards to Loughborough students and supports enterprise, internationalisation and sporting activity that takes place across the Institution.
The beneficiary lunch on campus gave more than 30 members of the University community a chance to thank the Santander Universities team and explain how funding has been used.
American national Ryan McGarity, who is studying a Master's in Industrial Mathematical Modelling at Loughborough under the Santander International Postgraduate Scholarship, was among those that attended the event.
He said: “The scholarship assists in buffering the costs of studying abroad and allowed me to do my programme. I appreciate the opportunities Santander has given me – so thank you!"
Claire Feeney, a Doctoral Researcher in Management Science and Operations Management, also expressed her gratitude at the lunch, having been granted an award under the Santander Mobility Funding Scheme to travel to the University of Colorado to expand her research.
She said following the meet: “It was great to have the chance to talk to lots of inspirational Loughborough research students about their projects.
“The work we're all doing might be varied but the support from Santander was very clearly universally appreciated.”
Santander Universities has also helped Alex Lees – the creative director of video production company Tale Production, which is part of Loughborough’s graduate commercialisation hub The Studio.
Alex commented: “Santander provided us funding for a 10-week intern and we have taken on board a Marketing and Social Media Lead. This support has already proved to be vital in our growth and we would like to thank Santander for that opportunity.”
Loughborough University and Santander Universities formed their partnership in 2008 and Santander has provided more than £2m in philanthropic support to date.
Event organiser Hayley Johnson, a Development Manager at the University, said: “Through the partnership with Santander Universities we have been able to enhance the Loughborough experience by providing a range of new opportunities.
“Examples include running workshops that develop the skills of our budding entrepreneurs, generating chances for early career researchers to form international connections and holding events which allow students to learn about the different cultures that form the Loughborough community.
“Thank you once again to Santander Universities.”
Robert Simmonds, Deputy Relationship Director at Santander Universities, commented: “It’s fantastic to see and understand how our funding is helping Loughborough students and the university community to prosper. We are very proud of our partnership with Loughborough University.”
For more information on Santander UK Universities, click here.