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Santander renews partnership agreement with Queen Margaret University

A partnership between QMU and Santander Universities UK is going from strength to strength after reaching its £1million mark to support students, graduates, staff and the wider community, following the signing of a new agreement.

The latest funding commitment from Santander will enable QMU to deliver a variety of new support initiatives, including widening access scholarships, student mobility, community engagement and outreach, and entrepreneurship.

The new three-year agreement also means that Santander will be supporting the Queen Margaret Children's University (QMCU) for the first time, including at Musselburgh’s Burgh Primary in East Lothian.

QMCU aims to promote social mobility by recognising and providing high quality, exciting and innovative learning activities and experiences outside normal school hours. QMCU helps children in Edinburgh and the Lothians aged 7-14, and engages the wider communities as learning partners in the project’s delivery. Although open to all, QMCU particularly aims to reach children and families facing socio-economic and educational disadvantage through the promotion of activities in areas of deprivation.

Over the last 10 years, Santander’s partnership with QMU has already provided support for over 400 staff, students, SMEs and charities. Students have received Santander scholarships; QMU staff and students have benefitted from research and mobility funding; students, graduates and local SMEs have participated in the Santander Universities SME Internship Programme and local charities have received Community Awards. 

Funding over the last decade has also been used to increase the University’s international reach, develop links with the local community, encourage outstanding research and teaching, and enhance employability for QMU students and graduates.

In recognition of the huge commitment from Santander over the last 10 years, QMU has created a permanent dedication to the partnership by naming one of its lecture theatres, ‘The Santander Lecture Theatre’.

QMU was also the first university in Scotland to have become a partner of Santander, which is committed to higher education in the UK and around the world. 

Professor Petra Wend, Principal and Vice-Chancellor of QMU, said: “It’s a double celebration for QMU and Santander as we mark the tenth anniversary of our partnership with this significant funding milestone.

“This renewed commitment from Santander is already making a huge difference to our students, our staff and our local community every single day, and I’m so privileged to have witnessed the transformational effects that this support has had on the University and its community over the past decade.

“Santander has played a key role in shaping the University now and in the future, ensuring we continue to make progress in our core goals associated with social justice, outstanding research and teaching and providing an excellent student experience.

“We look forward to our partnership going from strength to strength in the future, including benefitting the next generation of students through the Queen Margaret Children’s University.”

Director of Santander Universities UK, Matt Hutnell, added: “Santander is committed to supporting higher education as well as local communities across the UK. It’s been great to meet students and staff, and to see first-hand the real impact of our joint programmes.

“Our partnership is a great example of how two very different institutions can work together and run joint programmes that help both our students and also support our local community and I’m delighted to be renewing our agreement with Queen Margaret University.”

Visit our Santander Universities page for more information about the partnership between QMU and Santander Universities, and to download a copy of a leaflet celebrating the 10th anniversary of the partnership. 

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